Leeds riot: Ex-Tory minister declares ‘multiculturalism is not working’ as civil unrest continues

Ex-Tory minister Andrea Jenkyns has declared that multiculturalism “is not working” in Britain after scenes of unrest in Leeds that have carried into a second day.

West Yorkshire Police have made “several” arrests in Harehills, a Leeds suburb, with more expect in the coming days.

Locals have been confronting police officers today, but the chaos seen yesterday is yet to be replicated.

Rioting broke out in the area on Thursday as officers responded to reports of social workers experiencing hostility when dealing with a child protection issue.

Speaking on GB News, Jenkyns hit out at the police response and said the incident paints a bleak image of Britain.

“Multiculturalism is not working”, he said.

“You cannot force people to adapt to the British way of life. I believe in the old adage, when in Rome, do as the Romans do.

“If people are left to get away with this, which they have been, because we’ve got a Labour West Yorkshire mayor who is more focused on waving rainbow flags and hate crimes than serious crimes like this.

“If it was me, I would have got the army in there with the police in riot gear. I would have dragged them off the street to have stopped it.”

Discussing the “subdued” political response, she hit out at Sir Keir Starmer for “not commenting”.

“What the heck are the party of government doing about this?”, she asked.

A bus was set on fire and a police car was overturned as residents were warned to stay at home on Thursday night, with a large police presence and helicopters deployed to the area.

On Friday morning, four officers guarded the scene around a torched bus in Foundry Approach.

Some residents gathered to look at the damage, while a visibly emotional group of people believed to be linked to the initial incident sat on a patch of grass nearby.

Green Party councillor for Gipton and Harehills, Mothin Ali, described the scenes as “absolute mayhem” and called for the community to stay calm and come together after the incident.

Speaking to reporters at the scene on Friday, he said: “The scene was absolute mayhem. It was quite chaotic. We were trying to shelter the police, act as human shields for the police, because they were there without helmets, without shields, being pelted with bricks and bottles, so we were trying to calm people down and act as a protective barrier.”

Ali said the local neighbourhood policing team was “absolutely fantastic” and had aimed to “not escalate things”, but it had been the wrong decision for officers to withdraw at the first incident.

“The idea was not to try and antagonise things, to let things fizzle out. In hindsight we could criticise that but at the time when they’re making the decision, it’s tough,” he said.

“I don’t know who was in charge but I’d like to speak to them.”