Cameron pledges “whatever it takes”

Addressing a recalled House of Commons, the Prime Minister said anyone convicted of rioting should go to jail.

He said the Government was looking at the option of introducing new sentencing powers and promised that reinforced police numbers would remain on the streets of London over the weekend.

“We will not put up with this in our country. We will not allow a culture of fear to exist on our streets and we will do whatever it takes to restore law and order and to rebuild our communities,” he said.

Mr Cameron announced that police would be given new powers to demand suspected criminals remove facemasks while ministers were also looking at whether any wider powers of curfew were necessary.

He said they were also looking with the police, the intelligence services and industry at whether it was possible to stop people plotting disorder through social media websites.

Mr Cameron said that while he did not want to break away from the traditional “British model” of policing by putting troops on the streets, he said ministers were looking at whether the Army could take on some police tasks to free up more officers for the frontline.

“Nothing should be off the table. Every contingency is being looked at,” he said.