Radicalised far-right 'waiting for a spark'
Plus: Questions over Marine Lakes Events Centre and Southport Inquiry latest
Hello and welcome to the midweek edition of The Southport Lead.
The Labour Party conference came to Liverpool this week and away from the headline speeches, protests and the latest will-he-won't-he Andy Burnham moment, there was an awful lot going on.
On Monday, I made the trip to Camp and Furnace - a place I’d previously only associated with gigs - to watch Southport MP appear on a panel entitled ‘Exposing the far right: using the media to counter hate and disinformation’ and it is from there where today’s main story comes.
We also have the latest from the Southport Inquiry and revisit the topic of Sunday’s edition as questions are asked by opposition councillors about the Marine Lake Events Centre’s development.
After Southport riots, vigilance needed over far-right rise
By Jamie Lopez
Southport MP Patrick Hurley has called for greater vigilance against the growth of the far-right as he warned there is a network waiting to be “activated”.
Hurley, who had been the town’s MP for just a matter of weeks when riots broke out in the town following the murders of three young girls in July, believes that extreme views are being allowed to become more mainstream through not just on the ground activists but also politicians and broadcasters.
The MP made the comments while speaking at a Labour Party Conference fringe event on Monday. Entitled ‘Exposing the far right: using the media to counter hate and disinformation’. it also featured Director of research at HOPE not hate, Joe Mulhall, and Havana Marking, director of the BAFTA-nominated documentary UNDERCOVER: Exposing the Far Right.
Looking back at the riots in Southport, which saw a mosque attacked, homes damaged, and a police van petrol bombed, and officers assaulted, Hurley reflected not only on the actions of Andrew McIntyre who helped organise much of the anger and disorder, but also those who took to the streets both in Southport and other towns and cities.
He said: “What I picked up from last summer is so many people are just waiting for a spark. Then anyone can activate that network and we just have to be so vigilant.”
Having also had experience of dealing with social disorder during his time as a councillor, Hurley said societal and community changes have pushed more and more people into isolation which creates the ideal environment for them to pick up hateful ideologies. This, he said, was part of the reason it is so vital for the government to improve the lives of communities across the country.
The closures of pubs and other communal spaces, he said, have meant more people spending time alone and contributed to a process where people go from “being radicalised in their bedrooms on phones to being on the streets.
“Thirty years ago people had to sign up to an organisation or go to a meeting in a room about a pub. In the 2020s, we see people sitting in the bedroom on their phones being validated in their more extreme opinions.”
According to Hurley, there is a need for more to be done to challenge the shifting narrative.
“There is a huge role for politicians and the Westminster eco-system to raise its game. There’s a temptation when Labour is in government to splinter off because we don’t get everything right, we’re never going to get everything right and when we do people say it’s too slow. But we need to not give into that temptation.”
He added: “There is a very real threat in May next year that my town will go Reform and then the following May then more towns go Reform.”
The panel warned that far-right narratives are being normalised by mainstream politicians and broadcasters, with Nigel Farage’s call for the removal of anyone in the UK with indefinite leave to remain as an example of a suggestion which would not have been made public even a few years ago.
As a result, it was argued that the far right is also pushing into even more extreme positions in order to find its own space.
Hurley added: “We’ve seen the far right on the streets. What we’ve never seen is that [combined] with the political class as well.
“We are only six months away from Tommy Robinson being invited onto the Sunday morning breakfast shows and being legitimised. When that happens, we’re all worse off for it.”
News in brief
🧑⚖️ A 35-year-old man has been jailed after threatening bar staff with a knife. Mark Lismore, of Leyland Road returned to Ivy Bar on Lord Street with a knife tucked in his waist band after getting into an argument earlier in the evening on August 1. He was jailed for 16 months.
🍻 Another micropub could soon open its doors in Southport town centre. A planning application has been submitted which would see the former Plaza Cards shop on Lord Street converted to the new use.
👀 The opening date has been revealed for the new LOL Bingo. The new venture will open its doors at 229-233 Lord Street (on the corner of Lord Street and Scarisbrick Avenue) at 10am this Friday).
Recommended reading
The Southport Inquiry continues apace with coverage live coverage each day from BBC News and The Liverpool Echo. Monday’s session heard from the owner of The Hart Space about building safety and from dance teacher Leanne Lucas on how mag-lock doors could actually have made the situation worse.
Lib Dems call for ‘gateway review’ of Marine Lake Events Centre development
By Elliot Jessett
The opposition leader has accused Sefton Council of ‘secrecy’ and called for more transparency after it was revealed the Marine Lake Events Centre was delayed and in need of a new lead contractor.
As reported in Sunday’s edition of The Southport Lead, construction work on the Marine Lake Events Centre has been delayed until next year and cost forecasts have also increased.
A report on the £73m development will be presented at a Sefton Council cabinet meeting on Bootle Town Hall tomorrow, when councillors will be asked to approve a series of recommendations including official acknowledgement of the project’s “budgetary pressures” and its procurement process.
The report also provides an update on progress made to date under the Pre-Construction Service Agreement (PCSA) with Graham Construction (GC). The council had previously confirmed GC as the preferred development partner to complete the MLEC project and announced in March that construction work was scheduled to start at the end of this year.
It is the second time a construction agreement has been terminated. Back in December 2023, the council confirmed it had ended the pre-construction services agreement with Kier Group. Responding to the update, Sefton Council leader Cllr Marion Atkinson said: “We’ve already engaged new contractors and are progressing with legal mechanisms to ensure the project can move forward.
“This is responsible governance and robust commercial negotiation, not mismanagement. A full update will be presented to Cabinet on Thursday 2nd October, outlining the next steps and reaffirming our commitment to delivering this transformative project.”
As a result of GC’s withdrawal, Liberal Democrat councillors are now calling for a Gateway Review of what it called a ‘troubled’ project.
Cllr John Pugh said the council has ‘unavoidably serious choices to make’ as to how best to use taxpayers money and how much of it to ask for.
The Liberal Democrat group leader said: “Effectively the Council has little option now but to carry on. The old conference centre has gone and we have been without a major venue in Southport now for over five years.
“Sefton Council tax payers were always standing £20 million of the total cost of the project, but that figure will now rise and have to be paid back with interest. Sefton Council tax payers are already permanently saddled with £42 million pound re-payments for the ill-judged purchase through borrowing of the Bootle Strand. It’s not as though the impact won’t be felt.”
Cllr Pugh added: “The council is against any scaling down and I think we can all see that losing some elements like the planned lakeside light show would destroy a unique feature of the project.
“The council is arguing too that any scaling down would lose the top class operator lined up to manage future events.
“No-one imagines that regeneration on this scale is easy. Real world costs can throw out the best laid plans, but moving forward it’s best to be neither stubborn nor defensive, but seek an open review of options.
“Councillors want maximum clarity on future financial commitments, but regrettably Sefton secrecy has meant that too much hitherto has been kept under wraps under the cloak of commercial confidentiality.”
The Lib Dems said a quick Gateway Review would give elected members and council tax payers some reassurance and ‘help validate’ future decisions. Cllr Pugh added: “It is just not wise to delegate entirely the job of finding a way forward to the same people who have struggled to deliver the project at the original cost – without the external frame of reference that a Gateway Review can provide.
“That unfortunately appears to be the route Sefton is going down. A properly published Gateway Review on the other hand that can be shared and scrutinised by the whole Council could give unity and purpose.”
However, Cllr Atkinson responded strongly to the Lib Dem statement, she said: “It is deeply disappointing to see yet another attempt to talk Southport down, especially when so much hard work is being done to deliver a project that will bring over half a million new visitors a year and inject £19 million annually into our local economy.
“Let me be clear – the Town Deal funding is being used responsibly and strategically, and everything we are doing is about securing best value for public finances.
“The Marine Lake Events Centre is the flagship project, but it is part of a wider regeneration programme that includes improvements to public spaces and infrastructure across Southport. These are investments in our future, not wastes of money.”
Cllr Atkinson added: “Southport deserves ambition, not negativity. We will not allow political point-scoring to derail progress. This is about building a better future — and we’re proud to be leading that charge.”
Did he manage to speak about the attack on our mosque last year without using the work Islamaphobia again? It's what he did when being interviewed about it the following day. He is a member of a government and party that is pandering to the far right. Why not give it a rest?