Campaigners and MPs have dismissed the prime minister’s claim as hyperbolic, alarmist and illiberal
Jeremy Hunt is being urged by business leaders to fix the UK’s broken childcare system to secure a boost to the economy worth £11bn by enabling more parents and carers to work, Richard Partington reports.
After his roundtable with police officers yesterday, where he made the comment about “mob rule” replacing democratic rule, Rishi Sunak gave a lengthy speech last night at a dinner for the Community Security Trust, a charity providing security for Jewish schools and synagogues. In it he elaborated on what he sees as the threat to democracy posed by pro-Palestinian activism. The full text is here on the No 10 website, but here are the key points.
Sunak said MPs were facing increasing intimidation and that he was not willing to accept this. He said:
As prime minister, I’m not prepared to stand by, and watch MPs forced out of public service because of fears for their safety.
Nor I am prepared to allow this pattern of increasingly violent and intimidatory behaviour seemingly intended to shout down elected representatives and hijack the democratic process through force itself.
He said he wanted to end “passive tolerance of words and actions that go against what we stand for”. He said:
It’s not enough merely to strengthen our physical security we must also be far bolder and more assertive in defending our British values.
We’ve got to end this passive tolerance of words and actions that go against what we stand for.
He called for a tougher approach to tackling antisemitism in universities. He said:
What is happening right now on campuses is simply not acceptable.
Jewish students are being targeted, threatened, and assaulted simply for being Jewish.
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