One of the U.K.’s senior cabinet ministers insists the country is safe despite the Canadian government cautioning travel to the U.K. due to ongoing far-right violent riots.
“The people who are responsible for some of the disorder we’ve seen in recent days, they don’t represent Britain,” U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves said in an exclusive interview with CTV National News Chief News Anchor and Senior Editor Omar Sachedina.
Amid peak tourism, the advisory, updated Tuesday, suggested that Canadians exercise caution when travelling to the U.K., citing recent demonstrations.
Violent unrest tears cities and towns
A spur of violence across the U.K. has led to hundreds of arrests as rioters, fuelled by right-wing activists using social media to spread misinformation, have taken to the streets with anti-immigrant and Islamophobic views, resulting in clashes with police and counter-demonstrators.
The chain of violent unrest was sparked by a July 29 knife attack that killed three girls between six and nine in Southport, north of Liverpool. Social media later misidentified the 17-year-old suspect as an asylum-seeker or Muslim immigrant.
The following day, during a vigil for the victims of the stabbing attack, hundreds of protesters attacked a local mosque with bricks, bottles and rocks, and clashed with police.
Cities and towns across the U.K., including London, Manchester, Bristol and Nottingham, have been caught up in the unrest, where rioters have stormed hotels known to house asylum-seekers.
Police said they had prepared for a night of violence at as many as 100 locations on Wednesday.
“There’s no justification or reason for this sort of disturbance. Many of them are travelling from town to town, indulging in criminal and thuggish behaviour. I’m not going to justify it. They can’t justify it,” Reeves said.
Latest efforts to quell the violence include a dispatch of 1,300 specially trained officers, who were on standby, the government’s pledge to prosecute rioters with harsh sentences, and protecting targeted buildings and places of worship.
Further unrest was largely averted on Wednesday as thousands of peaceful anti-racism protestors also took to the streets, with large, peaceful crowds gathering outside agencies and law firms specializing in immigration.
General view of people gathering to protest against a planned far-right anti-immigration protest in Walthamstow, London, Aug. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)
‘They can’t hide behind the platforms’
Newly elected U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said that social media companies must uphold laws to limit misinformation circulating on their platforms.
Starmer said large social media companies should know that “violent disorder clearly whipped up online: that is also a crime.”
Reeves echoed that social media companies should take responsibility for their actions. “They could use their powers to crack down on the spreading of misinformation. They can’t hide behind the platforms,” Reeves said.
When asked whether these companies should be charged, Reeves fell short of calling for that course of action.
“Already, our new Secretary of State for science innovation and technology has met the media bosses of Meta and Google and Facebook and Twitter to make these points to them,” she said. “But they can’t hide behind the platforms. They need to take responsibility for what is being distributed from them.”
U.K. economy
Beyond the riots, the Labour government is looking for support from close allies like Canada to bring stability back to the U.K. economy.
Reeves, who is currently in Toronto, said Canadian pension funds have invested in U.K. infrastructure for decades.
“We welcome the commitments of pension funds here in Canada that I got to meet a number of this morning, the ongoing investments they’re making, whether that is in energy or in our housing sector,” she said.
Asked about people in the U.K. feeling economically marginalized, Reeves said reforms, like building 1.5-million homes in the country and a national wealth fund to invest in jobs, aim to give young people and families hope for the future.
Reeves said her meeting with investors, including in New York where she was this week, sends a clear message that the U.K. is open for business.
Mark Carney
Reeves, who is the U.K.’s first female finance minister, was previously endorsed by former Bank of Canada and Bank of England governor Mark Carney before the Labour government’s election victory last month.
Around the same time, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau revealed he had been speaking to Carney about joining federal politics.
“Mark Carney is a great man and a good friend of mine, and I know that he cares passionately about his home country, Canada,” Reeves said.
Reeves said Carney has not given her insight on whether he would serve in cabinet.
“I’m sure that Mark will always make an important contribution, as he already has,” she added.
With files from CTVNews.ca’s Hunter Crowther, The Associated Press and Reuters
