GB News panel splits over French riots and UK unrest risk

On a current affairs programme, a panel debated whether rioting in France could be a sign of civil unrest to come in the UK, amid claims of two-tier policing. The segment focused on unrest in French cities and towns over the past week, which was described as involving far-left militants, students, mayhem, damage and violence.

The panel disagreed on whether Britain faced a similar threat. One guest, Emma Woolf, argued the UK had a different situation from France. She said Britain did not have the same tradition of young people's student uprisings, and described the British public as apathetic, depressed, lazy and divided. She said people had not taken to the streets over issues such as high petrol prices, but added that when they do protest they get locked up. She pointed to repeated Gaza demonstrations and two-tier policing as reasons to be very worried about what could come.

Another guest, Benjamin Butterworth, rejected that framing. He said the UK did not have the same history of rioting as France, and suggested French disorder reflected specific problems such as youth anger, underfunded schools and division. He said it was odd to focus on militant left-wing violence when recent attacks and danger had come from militant far-right people in places such as Gosport. He said large demonstrations in London, including Unite the Right, were largely peaceful.

The host, Lee Anderson, challenged him over policing and immigration. He claimed authorities were reluctant to clamp down on left-leaning protests such as Palestine and Black Lives Matter marches, while ordinary people protesting against undocumented migration faced restrictions. He said more asylum seekers had been locked up that week for raping women and girls. He also raised a protest in Gosport, saying the town was effectively locked down so illegal migrants could be moved safely, with residents unable to travel to the Isle of Wight. Woolf said the episode showed the UK was a soft touch and argued migrants should be returned to France rather than accommodated.

Butterworth disputed that account. He said people on the extremes of politics peddle grievance, and cited violence and disorder in Gosport, including threats to police officers, blocked ambulances, and drunk and disorderly behaviour. He said local residents should not be blamed for raising concerns, but argued that some protesters were professional agitators who filmed disorder to make money. He said the asylum seekers who arrived by boat were detained for processing, and that draining police and ambulance resources through violent disorder did not help.

The debate later returned to France. Anderson argued the riots showed that multiculturalism had failed. Butterworth rejected that, asking for evidence and objecting to the implication that the rioters' ethnicity was the issue. Woolf warned that real civil unrest in the UK should not be underestimated, pointing to anger, exhaustion and frustration among normal, non-politicised people.

The discussion ended without a firm conclusion, but it framed the French riots as part of a wider argument about policing, protest and immigration in the UK.