Young people joined last summer’s riots in ‘thrill of the moment’, says Children’s Commissioner
A distrust of the police, curiosity, and the “thrill of the moment” were some of the reasons behind young people joining in last summer’s riots, research has suggested.
The involvement of some children was “spontaneous and unconsidered” and had less to do with online misinformation, the Children’s Commissioner said in a new report.
Dame Rachel de Souza’s office spoke to around a fifth of the children charged over the trouble which broke out in the aftermath of the murders of three young girls in Southport.
Axel Rudakubana was handed a 52-year sentence last week for the murders of Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, as well as the attempted murder of eight other children and two adults, at a dance class last July.
In the days following the stabbings, a number of false claims circulated on social media about the attack – including a false name and incorrect claims that the attacker was a recently arrived asylum seeker – with some of that misinformation believed to have fuelled rioting in various parts of England.
Regarding the actions of children, Dame Rachel said her office’s interviews with 14 of the under-18s charged in relation to the disorder found a number of issues.
Dame Rachel de Souza. File pic: PA
In the report, she said: “What emerged from the conversations I had with the young people themselves was striking, and often unsettling.
“Many children described making a split-second decision, their involvement being largely spontaneous and unconsidered, driven by curiosity or the thrill of the moment to see what was going on in their community.
“Others described a deep distrust of the police and the opportunity to retaliate against a previous interaction.
“What these conversations do not support is the prevailing narrative that emerged from the riots which was subsequently accepted: that online misinformation, racism or other right-wing influences were to blame for why young people were enticed to join in the aggression.
“While there is no doubt these issues all played a role, they did not drive the children’s actions – they did not come up as the only significant factors in any of the conversations with the children who were charged.”
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Of the 14 children spoken to towards the end of last year by the commissioner’s office, many had no previous experience with the criminal justice system.
All “made it clear that they did not get involved due to far-right, anti-immigration or racist views”, the report said.
Princess Beatrice has given birth to a baby girl named Athena several weeks prematurely, Buckingham Palace has said.
The late Queen’s granddaughter was due to give birth in early spring and was told in December not to travel long distances.
Mother and daughter are now both said to be at home and doing well.
In a statement, the palace said: “Her Royal Highness Princess Beatrice and Mr Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi are delighted to announce the safe arrival of their daughter, Athena Elizabeth Rose Mapelli Mozzi, born on Wednesday 22nd January, at 12.57pm, at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, London.
“The baby was born weighing four pounds and five ounces.
“Their Majesties The King and Queen and other members of the Royal Family have all been informed and are delighted with the news.”
Princess Beatrice and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi. Pic: PA
Mr Mapelli Mozzi posted a tribute to his new daughter, calling her “tiny and absolutely perfect”.
He wrote on Instagram sharing a photograph of Athena wrapped in a blanket: “Athena Elizabeth Rose Mapelli Mozzi.
“We welcomed baby Athena into our lives last week. She is tiny and absolutely perfect.
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“We are all (including Wolfie and Sienna) already completely besotted with her.
“Our hearts are overflowing with love for you, baby Athena.
“A massive thank you from my wife and I goes out to all the wonderful staff at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital for their exceptional care and support during this incredibly special time.”
The couple share a three-year-old daughter, Sienna. Mr Mapelli Mozzi also has an eight-year-old son, Wolfie.
Princess Beatrice’s sister Princess Eugenie celebrated the new arrival by posting “Welcome Baby Girl” and sharing Mr Mapelli Mozzi’s photograph on her Instagram Stories.
Lloyds Banking Group is to close a further 136 branches.
Britain’s biggest mortgage lender said it will shut 61 Lloyds, 61 Halifax, and 14 Bank of Scotland sites between May this year and March 2026.
All workers affected by the closures would be offered alternative roles, the group said.
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A list of the affected branches, with their expected closure date:
Lloyds
• Lloyds Biggleswade – 05/11/2025
• Lloyds Bishop Auckland – 08/05/2025
• Lloyds Blandford – 10/11/2025
• Lloyds Bolton Farnworth – 28/05/2025
• Lloyds Bridgnorth – 20/05/2025
• Lloyds Brigg – 05/03/2026
• Lloyds Bristol Bishopsworth – 06/11/2025
• Lloyds Bristol Clifton – 21/05/2025
• Lloyds Bristol Patchway – 28/05/2025
• Lloyds Bromsgrove – 07/05/2025
• Lloyds Bury – 21/10/2025
• Lloyds Cardiff Whitchurch – 29/05/2025
• Lloyds Caterham – 05/03/2026
• Lloyds Chard – 11/11/2025
• Lloyds Coventry Foleshill – 04/11/2025
• Lloyds Dorchester – 19/06/2025
• Lloyds Dunstable – 04/11/2025
• Lloyds East Grinstead – 12/11/2025
• Lloyds Falmouth – 13/11/2025
• Lloyds Feltham – 04/11/2025
• Lloyds Ferndown – 17/11/2025
• Lloyds Fulham – 27/05/2025
• Lloyds Glossop – 09/03/2026
• Lloyds Godalming – 29/05/2025
• Lloyds Herne Bay – 21/05/2025
• Lloyds Hexham – 05/11/2025
• Lloyds Hornchurch Station Lane – 11/09/2025
• Lloyds Houghton le Spring – 10/03/2026
• Lloyds Hucknall – 04/03/2026
• Lloyds Kidderminster – 16/10/2025
• Lloyds Launceston – 12/05/2025
• Lloyds Leeds Crossgates – 20/08/2025
• Lloyds Leominster – 18/11/2025
• Lloyds Leyland – 08/05/2025
• Lloyds Liverpool Breck Rd – 04/03/2026
• Lloyds Loughton – 12/11/2025
• Lloyds Louth – 07/05/2025
• Lloyds Ludlow – 20/05/2025
• Lloyds Manchester Moston – 11/03/2026
• Lloyds Manchester Newton Heath – 05/11/2025
• Lloyds Margate – 14/05/2025
• Lloyds Pembroke Dock – 26/06/2025
• Lloyds Peterlee Yoden Way – 03/03/2026
• Lloyds Plymstock – 04/11/2025
• Lloyds Pontardawe – 19/11/2025
• Lloyds Pontyclun – 12/05/2025
• Lloyds Prudhoe – 15/05/2025
• Lloyds Rayleigh – 20/05/2025
• Lloyds Seaton – 11/03/20265
• Lloyds Sheffield Woodhouse – 11/11/2025
• Lloyds Shipston-on-Stour – 11/11/2025
• Lloyds Sleaford – 12/03/2026
• Lloyds Southall – 15/10/2025
• Lloyds Southsea – 02/06/2025
• Lloyds Stoke-on-Trent – 30/10/2026
• Lloyds Thornbury Avon – 26/02/2026
• Lloyds Tooting – 08/10/2025
• Lloyds Tunstall – 09/03/2026
• Lloyds Walthamstow – 22/10/2025
• Lloyds Welwyn Garden City – 11/06/2025
• Lloyds Wymondham – 12/03/2026
Halifax
• Halifax Balham – 22/05/2025
• Halifax Bangor (N Ireland) – 29/05/2025
• Halifax Barrow in Furness – 10/09/2025
• Halifax Bexleyheath – 23/10/2025
• Halifax Birmingham Bearwood – 02/03/2026
• Halifax Blackpool Lytham Road – 29/10/2025
• Halifax Bolton – 20/11/2025
• Halifax Brentwood – 10/09/2025
• Halifax Bromsgrove – 29/05/2025
• Halifax Cannon Street – 28/05/2025
• Halifax Carmarthen – 06/10/2025
• Halifax Castleford – 08/09/2025
• Halifax Cirencester – 25/09/2025
• Halifax Clapham Junction – 23/09/2025
• Halifax Crewe – 14/10/2025
• Halifax Derby East St – 23/10/2025
• Halifax Eltham – 29/10/2025
• Halifax Epsom – 15/09/2025
• Halifax Erdington – 24/09/2025
• Halifax Felixstowe – 02/06/2025
• Halifax Fleetwood – 25/06/2025
• Halifax Folkestone – 09/10/2025
• Halifax Fulham – 08/05/2025
• Halifax Gainsborough – 02/06/2025
• Halifax Hayes – 06/10/2025
• Halifax Hexham – 05/11/2025
• Halifax Horsforth – 24/02/2025
• Halifax Hove – 20/10/2025
• Halifax Huntingdon – 15/05/2025
• Halifax Kingsbury – 02/06/2025
• Halifax Kingswood – 08/10/2025
• Halifax Launceston – 03/06/2025
• Halifax Leek – 04/06/2025
• Halifax Letchworth – 03/06/2025
• Halifax London Strand – 08/05/2025
• Halifax Long Eaton – 18/09/2025
• Halifax Mold – 16/10/2025
• Halifax Nelson – 04/03/2026
• Halifax Northwich – 03/09/2025
• Halifax Omagh – 19/05/2025
• Halifax Peterlee – 03/03/2026
• Halifax Pontypridd – 15/07/2025
• Halifax Rayleigh – 20/05/2025
• Halifax Rhyl – 23/09/2025
• Halifax Richmond (Surrey) – 16/09/2025
• Halifax Sittingbourne – 15/10/2025
• Halifax Skegness – 03/09/2025
• Halifax Sleaford – 06/11/2025
• Halifax Southport – 07/10/2025
• Halifax St Annes – 12/06/2025
• Halifax St Austell – 13/05/2025
• Halifax Stevenage Queensway – 06/01/2026
• Halifax Telford – 22/10/2025
• Halifax Walkden – 25/09/2025
• Halifax Wallasey – 04/09/2025
• Halifax Waltham Cross – 27/05/2025
• Halifax Welwyn Garden City – 11/06/2025
• Halifax Wickford – 10/11/2025
• Halifax Wilmslow – 19/05/2025
• Halifax Winton – 01/10/2025
• Halifax Woolwich – 01/10/2025
Bank of Scotland
• Bank of Scotland Alexandria – 02/03/2026
• Bank of Scotland Annan – 02/03/2026
• Bank of Scotland Barrhead – 21/05/2025
• Bank of Scotland Bishopbriggs – 21/05/2025
• Bank of Scotland Edinburgh Corstorphine West – 29/10/2025
• Bank of Scotland Edinburgh Wester Hailes – 27/05/2025
• Bank of Scotland Helensburgh – 05/03/2026
• Bank of Scotland Kirkintilloch – 22/05/2025
• Bank of Scotland Moffat – 29/10/2025
• Bank of Scotland Peebles – 27/05/2025
• Bank of Scotland Pitlochry – 30/10/2025
• Bank of Scotland Sanquhar – 28/05/2025
• Bank of Scotland Thornhill – 03/11/2025
• Bank of Scotland Uddingston – 22/05/2025
Lloyds blamed the move on customers shifting away from banking in person to using online services, meaning there is less need for physical sites.
It made the announcement just weeks after taking the decision to allow its customers to access on-site services across any of the group’s branded branches.
Lloyds also revealed the planned closure of two major offices – in Liverpool and Dunfermline – affecting more than 1,000 staff.
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A spokesperson said: “Over 20 million customers are using our apps for on-demand access to their money and customers have more choice and flexibility than ever for their day-to-day banking.
“Alongside our apps, customers can also use telephone banking, visit a community banker or use any Halifax, Lloyds or Bank of Scotland branch, giving access to many more branches.
“Customers can also do their everyday banking at over 11,000 branches of the Post Office or in a Banking Hub.”
The UK’s big banking brands have been shutting branches at pace since the fallout from the financial crisis in 2008 which sparked a rush to cut costs.
The uptake of digital banking services has seen more than 6,000 sites go to the wall since 2015, according to the consumer group Which?
The closure plan revealed on Wednesday will bring the Lloyds brand down to 386 branches, Halifax down to 281 branches and Bank of Scotland to 90 branches once completed.
Campaigners have long argued that the rate of closures has been too quick to allow alternatives, such as banking hubs, to fill the void.
The elderly are least likely to bank online while rural communities have been particularly hard hit through the loss of banking services altogether.
Banking hubs are physical sites where services are shared.
As of September 2024, there were 76 across the UK though that number was set to more than double within months, according to Cash Access UK.
The government supports a third runway at Heathrow, Chancellor Rachel Reeves has announced.
Ms Reeves said the expansion of Europe’s busiest airport was “badly needed” to connect the UK to the world and open up new opportunities for growth.
A third runway will “unlock further growth, boost investment increase exports and make the UK more open and more connected”, she said.
Politics latest: Reaction to third runway decision
It could increase potential GDP (Gross Domestic Product) by 0.43% by 2050, a Frontier Economics study found, she said.
Ms Reeves said an expansion could create more than 100,000 jobs.
The announcement has been welcomed by some business groups but anger by London’s Labour mayor Sadiq Khan, the Lib Dems, the Green Party and environmental groups.
Heathrow is right next to large residential areas. Pic: PA
As part of a speech on funding infrastructure across the UK to promote growth, Ms Reeves said: “Persistent delays have caused doubts about our seriousness towards improving our economic prospects.”
She added that business groups like the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) and the Chambers of Commerce (BCC), as well as trade unions “are clear – a third runway is badly needed”.
Ms Reeves said the UK is “already making great strides in transitioning to cleaner and greener aviation” and announced the government is investing £63m over the next year into the Advanced Fuel Fund grant programme to support the development of sustainable aviation fuel production plants.
The government will be accepting proposals until the summer and will then carry out a “full assessment” through the Airport National Policy Statement to “ensure a third runway is delivered in line with our legal, environmental and climate objectives”.
Ms Reeves said the government expects any associated surface transport costs to the third runway’s construction will be financed through private funding.
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A long history of Heathrow’s third runway plans
The debate around whether Europe’s busiest airport should expand has been circling over British politics for decades.
Ms Reeves‘s decision will likely put her at odds with Climate Secretary Ed Miliband, who has said airport expansions will not go ahead if they cannot meet climate targets.
However, he said last week he would not resign if the government approved a third runway despite threatening to resign from Gordon Brown’s cabinet as climate change secretary in 2009 over the plans and in 2018 he said an expansion was “very likely” to make air pollution worse.
He has now said the government can meet both its growth and net zero missions together.
Labour Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said he remains opposed to a third runway “because of the severe impact it will have on noise, air pollution and meeting our climate change targets”.
He said he will carefully scrutinise any new proposals, “including the impact it will have on people living in the area and the huge knock-on effects for our transport infrastructure”.
“Despite the progress that’s been made in the aviation sector to make it more sustainable, I’m simply not convinced that you can have hundreds of thousands of additional flights at Heathrow every year without a hugely damaging impact on our environment,” he added.
Green Party MP Sian Berry said expanding airports “in the face of a climate emergency is the most irresponsible announcement from any government I have seen since the Liz Truss budget”.
Conservative shadow chancellor Mel Stride accused Ms Reeves and Sir Keir Starmer, and “their job destroying budget” of being “the biggest barriers to growth”.
“What’s worse, the anti-growth chancellor could not rule out coming back with yet more tax rises in March,” he added.
“This is a Labour government run by politicians who do not understand business, or where wealth comes from. Under new leadership, the Conservatives will continue to back businesses and hold this government to account.”
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