Starmer pledges 'full force of the law' for rioting mobs

PM on front foot as thugs set fire to asylum seeker hotel

- DAVID MADDOX, JOE MIDDLETON

Sir Keir Starmer issued a stark warning to racist far-right thugs rioting in British towns and cities with a “guarantee” they will face swift justice and “the full force of the law”.

In an uncompromising statement to the nation, the prime minister told those behind the appalling scenes in Hull, Halifax, Liverpool, London, Southport and Rotherham: “I guarantee, you will regret it”. More than 100 people have been arrested following the violent disturbances on Saturday.

The prime minister’s powerful statement came as a mob stormed a hotel full of asylum seekers waiting for their applications to be heard in Rotherham and set fire to it, knowing people were inside.

Violent thugs in balaclavas draped in St George flags hurled chairs and set off fire extinguishers at police outside of the Holiday Inn Express in Manvers, a suburb in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, on Sunday afternoon. The anti-immigrant hooligans chanted “Get them out”, “You’re not welcome any more” and “Yorkshire” as they encouraged each other to attack the hotel.

Another young group of men held a banner saying: “Stopping the boats means stopping the stabbings” and other offensive chants could be heard targeting Muslims and immigrants. The group smashed windows to get inside the hotel at one point, before setting fire to bins and furniture.

Later yesterday evening, a far-right mob threw missiles, smashed windows, started fires and clashed with police at another Holiday Inn housing asylum seekers in Tamworth, Staffordshire.

Meanwhile, in Middlesbrough further violent disorder took place, with damage caused to the Crown Court and the University, Cleveland Police said. A group of rioters in Middlesbrough smashed the windows of houses and cars and threw objects at officers, with one seen shouting a racial slur and another telling police: “It’s our fucking country.”