Taskforce launched to tackle root causes of UK riots

An independent commission aimed at tackling community divisions across Britain in the aftermath of last summer's riots will hold its first meeting on Wednesday.

The cross-party body, led by former Tory home secretary Sir Sajid Javid and Labour MP Jon Cruddas, says it will examine what Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer last year called the "cracks in our foundation" and has support from across the political spectrum.

It aims to develop "evidence-based" recommendations for a stronger, more connected sense of community across the UK.

Sir Sajid said ministers have only responded to challenges to community cohesion "when tensions spill over, and too often ignoring the root causes".

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Former Green Party leader Caroline Lucas, ex-Tory mayor of the West Midlands Sir Andy Street, and former counter-extremism tsar Dame Sara Khan are also among its members.

The Independent Commission on Community and Cohesion was announced after the summer riots last year which hit parts of the country last year following the Southport stabbings. False information spread on social media about the identity of the attacker, later found to be 18-year-old Axel Rudakubana, was widely seen as playing a role in fuelling the unrest.

The disturbances, which saw mosques and hotels housing asylum seekers targeted, were denounced at the time as "far-right thuggery" by Sir Keir.

In recent weeks, there has also been unrest in parts of Northern Ireland, where police have said some of it has been racially motivated.

The commission said a UK-wide "national conversation" will be launched this autumn, to hear directly from people across the country about how they experience connection and belonging and what they want to see change.

The panel will have representation from all four nations of the UK and people from different faiths and professions.

It is being facilitated by the Together Coalition founded by Brendan Cox, the husband of the Labour MP Jo Cox who was murdered by a far-right extremist.

Although not officially government-sponsored, the commission is being supported by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.

A spokesperson for the department said: "We are supportive of the work that the Together Coalition is undertaking, and we look forward to following the commission's progress".