Dan Jarvis

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right that hate like this will never be normalised. I spoke to the assistant commissioner this morning and, along with senior colleagues in the Metropolitan police, I know there is an extensive operation under way to provide reassurance to communities across London. There will be engagement taking place as we speak. The assistant commissioner met community leaders earlier on this afternoon and we are expecting a statement from the Met commissioner later today. That engagement with communities and that visible policing presence are under way. The hon. Gentleman is right to refer to the cohesion strategy. Let me give him an assurance on the importance we attach to it. There are lots of different bits of Government engaged, because this is a challenge right across the system—the Home Office, the Department for Education, the Department of Health and Social Care and local government—and we will ensure that all that work is properly co-ordinated in the way that he would expect. Let me also agree with the hon. Gentleman’s sentiment about police numbers. We inherited a situation in which police numbers were declining. The Home Secretary and colleagues in the Home Office are crystal clear that we want to drive those numbers up.