Cameron warns of ‘fightback’

Mr Cameron said it was “simply not acceptable” that violence had spread north from London, but praised a “more robust approach” by Scotland Yard which prevented a repeat of the worst trouble in the capital.

He said police chiefs had reassured him that they had all the resources they needed, despite calls led by London Mayor Boris Johnson to abandon the Government’s plans to cut police funding by 20 per cent.

Enough prison places are available to accommodate those being charged over the rioting, he added.

Mr Cameron will chair a meeting of the Government’s Cobra emergency committee this morning before addressing Parliament, which has been recalled for the day.

He revealed that water cannons were being made available at 24 hours’ notice, adding: “Whatever tactics the police feel they need to employ, they will have legal backing to do so.”

He said police also had the right to use baton rounds as the Government would not allow a “culture of fear” to exist on British streets

Mr Cameron said: “There are pockets of our society that are not just broken, but are frankly sick.

“When we see children as young as 12 and 13 looting and laughing, when we see the disgusting sight of a young man with people pretending to help him while they are robbing him, it is clear that there are things badly wrong with our society.”

The Prime Minister said he believed the problem was a “complete lack of responsibility”.

“People allowed to feel that the world owes them something, that their rights outweigh their responsibilities, and their actions do not have consequences. Well, they do have consequences. We need to have a clearer code of values and standards that we expect people to live by and stronger penalties if they cross the line.”

He was speaking after Boris Johnson broke Tory ranks and cast doubt over the wisdom of coalition plans to cut police spending by 20 per cent over four years.

Research by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary suggests about 16,200 police officers will be axed, as well as 1,800 community support officers and 16,100 civilian staff.

Mr Johnson, who is seeking re-election as Mayor next year, said of the coalition’s plans: “That case was always pretty frail and it has been substantially weakened.

“This is not a time to think about making substantial cuts in police numbers.”

Simon Reed, vice-chairman of the Police Federation, which represents rank-and-file officers, said the “cupboards were bare” for forces and a repeat of this week’s violence in four years’ time would be “catastrophic”.

“We have not got the resources now,” he said. “We are already at a tipping point. Other forces are really struggling to assist anyway because they have one eye on what potentially might happen in their own area.

“We really have scraped the barrel... We are stretched at the moment, but the loss of officers over the coming years will make things impossible to achieve.”

But the fears were dismissed by Home Secretary Theresa May, whose Department is also overseeing a radical change in police pay and conditions which could see two in five officers worse off.

Mrs May said: “We know that, at the end of the spending review, the police will have the sort of numbers that would enable them to deploy resources in the way they have done in the last few days.

“I’m also clear why we have been looking at cuts in the police budgets – it is because of the necessity, across Government, to deal with the deficit.

“And we also know that we can make cuts in police spending whilst still ensuring that the police are able to do the job that we want them to do, that they want to do and that the public want them to do.”

The benefit of using water cannons has been questioned by Sir Hugh Orde, president of the Association of Chief Police Officers and a rumoured front-runner for the vacant Metropolitan Police Commissioner role.

Sir Hugh, who oversaw the use of the weapon while head of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, said: “A water cannon buys you space. It is not a technique you can use in any other real policing environment. They are very heavy pieces of equipment, you need a number of them to be effective.

“They were vital in Northern Ireland. At the moment I don’t see a need in the rest of the United Kingdom.”