The response by police to riots last summer was “entirely appropriate”, despite claims of "two-tier policing", a report by MPs has found. The report from the Home Affairs Committee found there was no evidence of two-tier policing in officers’ handling of the levels of violence and criminality during the period, which followed the murder of three girls in Southport, and branded the claims as “disgraceful”. Riots broken out after Axel Rudakubana stabbed 11 children at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport on 29 July, killing Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, Bebe King, six, and Alice Da Silva Aguiar, nine. He has now been jailed for life and ordered to serve a minimum of 52 years. In the aftermath of the attack, riots broke out in towns and cities across the UK, with mosques, community centres and libraries attacked, as well as hotels housing asylum seekers. The police response to the riots prompted some, including Nigel Farage, far-right leader Tommy Robinson and Elon Musk, to accuse forces, and the government, of "two-tier policing" - something police chiefs and ministers denied. Now, the Home Affairs Committee has published a new report, finding that there was no evidence that those involved in the riots were policed more strongly than previous protesters. MPs said: “This was not protest. Those participating in disorder were not policed more strongly because of their supposed political views but because they were throwing missiles, assaulting police officers and committing arson. “It was disgraceful to see the police officers who bore the brunt of this violence being undermined by baseless claims of ‘two-tier policing’.” Why were there allegations of two-tier policing and who propagated it? Critics suggested that the police response to the riots in summer 2024 was significantly different to the approach adopted in May 2020 when Black Lives Matter protests were held in the UK as part of an international response following the murder of George Floyd in the US. Nigel Farage was one figure who drew the comparison. In a post on X following riots in the wake of the Southport attack, he claimed the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020 had left an impression of 'two-tier policing'. Tommy Robinson also contributed to the narrative, sharing social media posts using the phrase, including one video of a Greater Manchester Police senior officer to which he added: "No two tier policing?". His post also tagged Elon Musk, who weighed in on the debate writing several posts on social media referring to two-tier policing, and using the hashtage #twotierKeir as part of a war of words with the Prime Minister. In another post, he asked Starmer: "why aren't all communities protected in Britain?". But the government and senior police figures rejected the claims. Dame Priti Patel said there was a "stark difference" between the protests around Black Lives Matter - cited by Farage - and the riots of summer 2024. At the time she told Times Radio: "What we saw during the pandemic, we saw protest. We believe in free speech. We saw protests that were being policed. "What we're seeing right now is thuggery and disorder and criminality. There is a complete distinction between the two." Neil Basu, former head of Counter Terrorism Policing for the UK, dubbed the claims a "very dangerous rhetoric". Facts and figures on the disorder from the report According to a document in the Commons library on the policing response to the 2024 riots, between 30 July and 7 August 2024, an estimated 29 anti-immigration demonstrations and riots took place across 27 towns and cities in the UK. It said: "This was the most significant disorder in the UK since the 2011 riots, in which at least 4,000 people were arrested (within one month of the event) and 1,984 prosecuted (within two months)." The Home Affairs Committee report said that by 22 January this year, 1,804 arrests had been made and there were 1,072 charges from the disorder, with the majority for serious public order offences. In total, 246 events of protests, counter-protests and incidents of disorder took place, including 88 seen as “significant” with many resulting in disorder, it added. The report said some 44,438 public order police officer shifts were worked to cover the national response to the disorder between 1 and 18 August, while 302 officers were injured including up to 69 who were taken to hospital. The disorder is estimated to have cost police forces more than £28 million. What else does the MPs’ report say? The committee urged the government to release funding to forces to cover costs from the disorder, as well as calling for it to focus on a strategy for retaining police officers, alongside recruitment, after staff during the riots worked for long hours with many suffering injury and trauma. The report said: “Police forces did their best to ameliorate the impact on officers but it is clear that the disorder has had a detrimental effect at a time when many officers were already struggling with heavy workloads, fatigue and stress.” MPs also found shortfalls in national policing structures that hindered the response to the disorder, and meant forces were not always able to access support they needed. It agreed with a report from His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) that said police forces should have better anticipated the risk of disorder in general, and that it should not have been taken for granted that planned protests following the Southport disorder would remain peaceful. It found there were gaps in intelligence linked to social media and the dark web and highlighted that the criminal justice system has failed to keep pace with the social media age, which created an information vacuum that “allowed disinformation to flourish” in the wake of the Southport murders, which prompted speculation that the perpetrator was an asylum seeker, contributing to the ensuing disorder. MPs said the Crown Prosecution Service and Merseyside Police were ultimately limited on what they could publish about the then unnamed suspect, Axel Rudakubana, by the Contempt of Court Act 1981, which prevents the publication of information that could prejudice criminal proceedings. They welcomed a review into the law by the Law Commission, which published a consultation paper last month to consider “whether there should be contempt of court liability for those who risk prejudicing a criminal trial by releasing information in the interests of public safety or national security”. The committee also recommended a boosted ability for police to monitor and respond to social media at a national level. A Home Office spokesperson said: “It is always important that we always learn lessons, and we are working closely with policing to improve national decision making, and to ensure that officers get the support they need to keep our streets safe. “We also agree social media has put well-established principles around how we communicate after attacks like this under strain, and we must be able to tackle misinformation head on. That is why we have asked the Law Commission to carry out a review into the rules around Contempt of Court as soon as possible.”