There has been suggestions by MPs that the Home Secretary Suella Braverman should be sacked as there are warnings she is “encouraging extremists on all sides.”
Braverman wrote in The Times that aggressive right-wing protesters are met with a harsh response by the police and the “pro-Palestinian mobs” are “largely ignored, even when clearly breaking the law.”
Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper criticised Braverman in the House of Commons, she said, the Home Secretary was “deliberately seeking to create division around Remembrance.”
Cooper said, “She is encouraging extremists on all sides, attacking the police when she should be backing them. It is highly irresponsible and dangerous, and no other Home Secretary would ever have done this.”
Cooper added, “Does this Government still believe in the operational independence of the police, and how can it do so while this Home Secretary is in post and did the Prime Minister and Number 10 agree to the content of this article?
“Because either the Prime Minister has endorsed this or he’s too weak to sack her.”
Policing minister Chris Philp, warned that there has been a spike in Islamophobia offences along with a “surge” in anti-Semitic offences.
Philp added, “I’ve been contacted this morning by members of the Jewish community who are deeply uneasy about what this weekend will bring.
“And it is reasonable for politicians, the Prime Minister, the Home Secretary and others, I’m sure some on the other side of the House as well, to raise those concerns and make sure that the police are protecting those communities.”
He told MPs in the Commons, “the Government resolutely backs the question of operational independence.”
SNP, Chris Stephens said, “A lot of discussion has focused on the Palestinian ceasefire march when the police are more concerned with counter-protests by the far right … and football hooligans. Will the Government also be looking to cancel the 10 Premier League games scheduled this weekend?
“Will it look to cancel the City of London’s Lord Mayor’s Parade which overlaps the two-minute silence?
“The ex-Met assistant commissioner said this morning that this is the end of operational independence in policing … saying it’s on the verge of behaving unconstitutionally.
“Does this not mean and represent that the Home Secretary is unfit for office and should be sacked today?”
The Policing Minster did not agree with Stephens, as operational independence is not in “any way compromised.”
