There was no policing bias after Southport — just violence, lies and a war on truth

16 April 2025, 08:09

The phrase “two-tier policing” has entered our political dialogue since the summer riots, which took place after the tragic murders in Southport.

In short, some commentators,both mainstream and far right, used the phrase to denote, in their view, in some way, the policing of these riots was disproportionate, and not equivalent to other “protests” such as Black Lives Matter.

This myth has been rightly debunked as “disgraceful” by the recent Home Affairs Select Committee which has examined issues arising out of the disorder in 2024.

In striking language, they rightly proclaim that the policing was based on the violence that officers and others faced, not on the political views of the rioters. The first thing that should be noted is that there was a huge amount of violence in 2024.

There were reports of officers being doused in petrol, of hostels being surrounded with asylum seeker residents fearing for their lives.

This was not a peaceful protest – far from it. There was violence, intimidation and targeting of groups because of religion or race.

None of these acts can attract the protection that is given to protest under the English common law or the European Convention on Human Rights.

The idea that there is a two-tier policing system against those individuals in favour of ethnic minorities is so laughable that you can hardly believe that anyone would have the temerity to suggest it.

It is well acknowledged that it is ethnic minorities who for decades have faced discrimination and racial disparities against them.

This was acknowledged as recently as 2017 in the Lammy Review (conducted by the now Foreign Secretary David Lammy).

Despite making up just 14% of the population, BAME men and women make up 25% of prisoners, while over 40% of young people in custody are from BAME backgrounds.

In fact, there is greater disproportionality in the number of black people in prison here than in the United States.

The claim that there is two-tier policing in favour of BAME groups is nonsense upon nonsense. That is not to say that we should not scrutinise the police and criminal justice systems’ actions, however this needs to be based on hard data and proper analysis, not the social media output of far-right activists such as Tommy Robinson.

This divorce from reality has worrying hallmarks of a Donald Trump- like approach to our politics. Never mind the truth, never mind the data or the analysis, shout about immigrants, asylum seekers, or those of a different religion and some mud will stick.

This is a crisis of multiculturalism and the type of society that many of us still aspire to live in. How this unfolded after the Southport murders has lessons not just for policing and the criminal justice system but for our wider democratic settlement.

Rumours, falsehoods and allegations of two tier policing spread because few believed what official bodies were saying.

As well as a crisis of multiculturalism, we have a crisis in our state institutions themselves. We do not believe what the police, the courts, Governments or local councils tell us.

Whilst scrutiny and scepticism are crucial to us, trust in our democratic state has eroded such that it appears non-existent.

That is a concern for us all.

Raj Chada is the Head of the Criminal Defence, Financial Crime and Regulatory Department at law firm Hodge Jones and Allen.

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