Miliband: If Cameron doesn’t hold an inquiry I will
By Ian Dunt Follow @IanDunt
Ed Miliband has told David Cameron that he will launch his own inquiry in to the riots that hit England this week if the prime minister refuses to move on the issue.
The Labour leader raised the issue in the Commons yesterday during a debate on the unrest but it was rejected by Mr Cameron, who insisted the ongoing home affairs select committee inquiry was a satisfactory vehicle.
“If David Cameron doesn’t set up that national conversation, I am going to do it myself because we cannot allow a situation to develop whereby there is a focus for a few days on these issues and then we go back to business as usual," Mr Miliband said during a visit to Brixton.
"This is a message for the government; they must set up a proper national conversation to discuss these issues, not some inquiry sitting in London, not some bunch of MPs, not some elite bunch of people, but a proper national conversation, a proper commission of inquiry.
"The fact that we are an unequal society is in the background of some of the things which have happened."
Mr Miliband will be buoyed by the way he led the way on the phone-hacking row, with Mr Cameron adopting his policies days or sometimes hours after he proposed them.
The Labour leader has argued that the events of recent days have been so unsettling that the government must listen to the communities in which they took place before trying to come to any conclusions.
There were signs yesterday of early divisions between Labour and the Conservatives yesterday as some MPs blamed family breakdown and lack of respect while Mr Miliband hinted at an analysis which placed more emphasis on inequality and deprivation.
Mr Cameron's insistence that the home affairs committee is the best vehicle for inquiries reflects the views of those who wish to view the riots as being simple examples of criminality.
Its terms of reference, which are still being formulated, will nevertheless focus on the operational police response to the disorder rather than the deeper social or economic background.
"It is important that we look urgently at the causes and policing of what has happened and establish whether the police require additional resources and powers to tackle riots of this scale," chair Keith Vaz.
"The committee has previously looked into policing of the G20 protests and is keen to see if its previous recommendations have been implemented."
