Riots will always be bubbling away, warns UK think tank [+video]

In an interview with The Information Daily, Christian Guy describes the summer riots as a “significant moment in recent society history,” and warns that the UK was “in danger of moving on too quickly.”

“This is not to be all doom and gloom,” he add, citing the positive government work in welfare and education reform.

Mr Guy said: “I think for us the riots was an incredibly significant moment in recent society history and I think there is a sense that a year on the country is in danger of moving on too quickly.”

“We have to recognise that it was a warning shot from certain issues and unless we deal with some of the root causes of these social problems, the riots will always be bubbling away as a possibility.”

“This is not to be all doom and gloom. This is not to be negative. Most young people are fantastic and we had a great summer of celebration of sport this year.”

“We are seeing some positive welfare reform [and] some positive education reform,” but the riots revealed certain issues which need to be addressed, he said.

He added “That is why we feel as a think tank we have got to put the political pressure on so the politicians don’t feel that with one or two speeches and reports it is job done. Because it is not.”

“I think that what the country recognises by and large was you saw the worst of Britain at night during the riots and the best of Britain the next day in terms of the communities coming together to clear up and reclaim the streets.”

“So many young people stood up and said this is not young people, what you saw last night does not represent what we want to be as citizens.”

Mr Guy emphasised the need for young people to have a voice: “We need to find more avenues for them to have voices in the national debate and policy debate that goes on at Whitehall.”