Politicians not safety prompted the riots

The prime minister's attempt to link health and safety and human rights to the August riots have been dealt a blow - with politicians themselves put in the frame instead. Researchers at Essex University and Royal Holloway University of London found instead a major cause of the riots was the bad example set by politicians and bankers. In a 15 August speech, David Cameron twice targeted health and safety as a root cause of the riots. But the academic report, 'There will be burning and a-looting tonight,' concluded politicians are seen as 'a class apart' who abide by their own rules. The authors say political factors behind the riots could include 'middle class looting' by bankers in the financial crisis as well as the MPs' expenses scandal. They may have 'made it more acceptable for everyone else to 'take' what they wanted, when they wanted it.' The report concludes: 'People's disposition towards state institutions weigh more heavily in shaping their propensity to obey the law than their belief systems and personal values.' Sarah Birch, a reader in politics at Essex University, who carried out the research with Nicholas Allen, a senior politics lecturer at Royal Holloway University of London, said: 'Though it would be an over-simplification to say that lack of confidence in the political system caused the riots, the evidence we've examined suggests that there is something about the functioning of the political system and the behaviour of politicians that makes a significant minority of people potentially available for participation in acts of mass illegality.' Mr Cameron, who regards the riots as a symbol of Britain's 'broken society', this week began chairing a cabinet review of the government's social policies to see what changes were needed as a result of the riots. It will include state benefits, schools, parenting, family policy and will consider whether health and safety and human rights laws prevent 'common sense solution' to social problems.