Patrick Mercer: Police must be allowed to halt this lawlessness without fear of reprisal

I have no doubt that much of the violence has taken place in areas of social deprivation, areas where poverty exists and areas where people have a grievance, but such violence is indefensible.

We live in a liberal democracy and one of the marks of such a society is that we send men and women to fight to maintain our values, but if those values are compromised on the very streets that we are trying to protect, then our whole structure of democracy will implode.

It is easy in these circumstances to call for tougher measures – I have even heard people talking about the police needing to be “much heavier handed”. That, of course, is exactly what skilled policing is not about.

Every commander will be faced with different circumstances and he or she will have to cope with the consequences of very difficult decisions – such as the use of much more muscular tools like water cannon or rubber bullets.

Such things, though, must be a last resort; the first reaction must be to allow the police to do their job without fear of invasive scrutiny or institutionalised soft-centredness.

In my view, the last 10 years or more have seen the police undermined by the previous Government when individuals who had no interest in contributing to our society were allowed to get away with murder – sometimes literally.

As a result, the police have become increasingly hedged about by bureaucracy and constantly looking over their shoulders in case they, too, end up being prosecuted. This mindset must change.

It is interesting to note that the riots in London have centred upon areas which have already been identified as having large numbers of teenage gangs.

There should be no surprise at this. Neither should there be any surprise in the instincts of such people to see crowd troubles across the Arab nations, and then in London during the university funding riots, and attempt to copy them.

I speak from some experience having dealt with riots in Ulster up and down the years and I would say that many youngsters view such mayhem as both a challenge and fun.

Clearly, there are many deeper issues, but the opportunity for a spot of casual violence and profitable looting is often what swells this disorder.

It has to be asked, though, how responsible some of the media have been in their coverage. I watched as one television station gave an almost minute-by-minute outline of where the trouble was occurring, certainly allowing those who were interested to find the action and to find it instantly.

Meanwhile, the Ulster media has largely learned not to do this at the request of the police.

And on the subject of Ulster, a few days ago the Police Service for Northern Ireland were standing by to use water cannon and rubber bullets as the “marching season” made its violent start.

I have used water cannon and plastic bullets myself in the past in Ulster. Now, the PSNI don’t hesitate from using such tactics; but isn’t it an anomaly that Irish thugs are dealt with in a very different way from English ones? This needs to be examined.

Similarly, we hear much about “nation building” and are happy to dedicate our diplomats and Armed Forces to helping to do such things abroad.

After the student riots and the clear work of professional subversives among them, no one can be in any doubt that there are serious fractures and fissures inside our society which need to be repaired.

Surely, we must rebuild our nation internally with just as much energy as we do abroad?

I note that the Prime Minister has returned from his holiday and announced a series of measures to help with this unrest.

The recall of Parliament is, I suspect, peripheral but the deployment of 16,000 extra police to London is crucial and timely.

My concern, however, is that the violence may develop in places such as Leeds and Manchester and that the North will have been stripped of its resources because of the number of officers now supporting the Met in the capital.

Similarly, David Cameron made no mention of the use of more muscular crowd control measures – or the deployment of the Army.

I am sure that was deliberate as he wishes to keep his options open, but I can only caution against the use of troops.

With the exception of Ulster – that’s another argument – this country doesn’t put soldiers on its streets. And nor should it.

I am proud to live in Britain and I am proud that we have a police service that is balanced, decent and fair.

However, these men and women must be allowed to do their jobs and be freed from the shackles of over supervision and institutionalised nervousness.

To do anything less is madness.

Patrick Mercer is the Conservative MP for Newark. Before that he served as a regular Army Officer, predominantly in Northern Ireland and Bosnia.