06/12/2024
The Archbishop introduced a debate in the House of Lords on the importance of social cohesion and strong, supportive community life during periods of change and global uncertainty. The speech is available from Hansard and follows in full.
My Lords, on Monday 29th July this year at just before 11:50, police officers were called to a property in Southport where children attending a dance school had been appallingly and ferociously attacked by a man with a knife. Three of those children, Elsie Dot Stancombe, Alice Dasilva Aguiar and Bebe King, died. Many others sustained terrible injuries. A whole community and many families were devastated and traumatised.
Understandably, horror and anguish convulsed not just Southport, but the whole country. Rumours quickly circulated on the internet that the man to blame for this attack was an asylum seeker who had arrived in the UK illegally and was on the MI6 watchlist.
This wasn’t true. As a reporter put it a few days later, ‘Once lit, the torch paper of disinformation burned quickly.’ And though this rumour was quickly debunked, in the days that followed, as we know, riots broke out all over the country.
In Rotherham, close to my Diocese, a hotel housing migrants was set alight. In France, the Liberation newspaper called Britain a ‘Disunited Kingdom’.
What do we make of this? How do we respond? And what does it tell us about ourselves? I hope this debate will be an opportunity to reflect on these things – and on our common identity, of which our communities and institutions are such a vital part.
I am grateful to the usual channels for allowing us on these benches to have this debate slot, and to give this important issue space before your lordships’ house today.
The work needed to build stronger, more supportive and more socially cohesive communities must involve us all. Although the summer’s riots were fuelled by hideous, extremist rhetoric, which came from mysterious places online, what happened took place on our streets and in our communities. Whilst there were extremist forces at play, we also need to face the uncomfortable truth that though the rhetoric was extreme many of the people involved in the riots basically weren’t.
We also know from the courts, that more than half of those charged with offences such as violent disorder came from the country’s most deprived 20% of neighbourhoods – this means places with worse health outcomes, lower levels of qualifications, where employment is at its lowest and where the impacts of austerity, the pandemic, a cost-of-living crisis and rising inflation have hit hardest, intensifying those feelings of being left behind and then made all the worse by social media’s wildfire of disinformation; and, yes, fed by years of hard and soft extremist rhetoric.
I recognise and want to praise the years of important work done by Reviews carried out by Dame Sara Khan, the noble lady Baroness Casey, and the noble lord, Lord Walney, as well as the ongoing work being carried out by many organisations including the Together Coalition, British Future, Belong, and many more.
On policy, there is much expertise to draw upon, and as such much of the policy elements are known. But the deterioration of public services is a causal factor in the igniting of violence over the summer, and their revitalisation is essential reparative work. Education, housing availability, employment and the state of the health service have all been further impacted by the cost-of-living crisis, and the wellbeing of communities and individuals are closely tied up with them. The housing crisis and unemployment amongst other things as we know are most pronounced for young people, which is so significant when we consider issues of civic engagement. But then one in five councils is facing bankruptcy which is an extraordinary challenge given they are such critical local agents for cohesion, at a time when all our communities are changing. 1
The impact of the pandemic on each of these things was unprecedented. I hope noble lords with expertise will explore this further, but amidst all of the public service challenges, the aftermath of covid has, it gives me no delight to say, put a strain on trust and trust is critical and it is not an unlimited resource.
Perhaps most importantly in all of this, is that we are living in an increasingly digitised world. When the pandemic struck, most of our gatherings and meetings went online and this was an important lifeline for all of us at the time. But as a result, the changes in how we were already beginning to understand and relate to each other in a digital world, accelerated. Now there is an increasing reliance on AI and automated decision making despite a lack of ability to regulate sufficiently the technology we depend on so much. This cannot continue. The rise of misinformation on social media is undermining trust in democracy itself and the rule of law. The Khan Review found that freedom-restricting harassment is on the rise. Whilst the online world offers us so much, we have serious work to do to mitigate the impacts it will continue to have on our hearts, our relationships and upon our mental health. My Lords why should platforms be allowed to continue to call themselves platforms? We are in danger of losing the philosophic debate, for surely they are public spaces, and should be regulated accordingly, especially where children are likely to go – of course I recognise and support and have worked in this house for the things we are seeing in the Online Safety Act, but more is needed.
All of these things shape our relationships with one another and the world around us. According to the Woolf Institute Diversity Study of this year, one in ten people in England and Wales don’t know anyone well enough in their local area to ask them a favour. 2
We know the names, well maybe not all of us here but some of us, know the names of those who live in Coronation Street or Albert Square. But we don't know the names of our own neighbours. This is a tragedy, for the very best of British history is built on neighbourliness, and the loss of what is sometimes called the ‘economy of favours’ is one we should feel deeply, a culture where we look out for one another, not because we are told to, but because it would never occur to us to do differently. But these actions which build cohesion flow from values which need to be taught and cherished. From a Christian point of view, I would therefore dare to add that values are best protected and communicated by beliefs and customs and rituals and practices, the very things that are the lifeblood of faith communities.
The soft power, the stuff of social capital that builds communities, is what might be measured by the ‘social fabric index’ – this takes a range of measures including employment rates, and civic infrastructure. As I have already indicated, reports tell us that 23 out of the 27 places that experienced disorder last summer had well below a median social fabric score. 3
We therefore face the challenge of healing and rebuilding. Many expert reports and reviews call on the government to work on a social cohesion strategy, and I look forward to hearing from the noble lord the Minister about the government’s thoughts and plans, especially on a cross departmental, national social cohesion strategy and I welcome the inquiry on community cohesion announced in the other place recently by the Women and Equalities Committee and of course all this is related to all the policy areas that I’ve mentioned. Without equitable access to housing, education, health care social cohesion will not happen, nor will we be able to preserve a democracy in which everyone participates. Yet fewer than half of 18–24-year-olds exercised their right to vote in the last election, compared to three quarters of people aged 65 and above. 4
Across the globe, many other democracies face fragmentation driven by increasing disillusionment and division. Time series data in the UK shows trust in the government has decreased over the last four decades, alongside continued low voter turnout, decreasing confidence in political parties and other institutions, not least the church. Participation in civic life is, therefore, essential, and it is clear that if someone doesn’t feel they have a stake in the governance of where they are, they will not engage.
I believe that one part of the solution to this is devolution. I am therefore thankful for the work of successive governments to make this happen.
I recently had a very substantial cooked breakfast – no kippers unfortunately but a very good breakfast – with the recently elected Mayor of the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority. This is the first of these new bodies to combine rural and urban communities. What did we speak about? We spoke about values. Where they come from. How they are nurtured. What happens when you lose them. How you get them back. And how it is shared values, shared story, shared belonging and belief in a shared future that creates cohesion and well-being across what can so easily seem to be insuperable difference. And that these things are often best nurtured at a more local level where people can have a greater stake in the decisions that affect their lives.
We need to clear about this, difference is a gift. We know from our observation of the natural world that it is biodiversity that creates mutual flourishing, and the lack of diversity that can destroy the whole system. Our society is growing in diversity, especially ethnically and religiously. And we must embrace, celebrate and be curious about our differences – not scared of them. And we will better understand those differences through governance at the local level and this could be taken more seriously by government.
So having got this far through my speech without really mentioning God, let me say again these values, not least the values around our belonging to one another and the mutual responsibilities that go with it, are rooted in the Jewish and Christian scriptures that have formed so much of our national understanding, including the rule of law, and the inherent and equal value of each person under the law.
The opening word of the Lord’s Prayer, which some of us say in this chamber each time we come, the opening word of the Lord’s Prayer is ‘our’ not ‘my’. Everything else follows. I might also add that in the New Testament Jesus never asks us to love everyone. Loving everyone is sufficiently abstract and therefore relatively easy to do. No, Jesus asks us to love our neighbour. And what that means is to love that very particular person who is sitting next to you – or perhaps in this place I should say opposite you - right now.
Therefore, any vision of cohesion and wellbeing that is about the security of self at the expense of neighbour is not only insufficient for flourishing, it is doomed to miserable failure and economic stagnation, for we belong to one another in all our glorious diversity.
The local parish church - and other faith communities - provide a presence in every neighbourhood. The particular genius of the parish church and parish system is it preserves and communicates meaning, value and belonging in places where people can serve and be served and discover fresh perspectives on what it is to be human and to be a human community. In their report published this week, Theos notes that owing to their deep connection to, and understanding of place, parish churches were actually central to the emergency response to the riots. The fruit of their relational work is also seen of course in other faith communities.
With others, the Church of England must continue to build and nurture these connections. This is happening up and down the country and I'm inspired by, for instance, the peace walk that took place after the riots in Sunderland. Or the interfaith friendship that is happening in Smethwick. The things I am learning from Muslim and Jewish groups that I work with in York.
Social cohesion is almost a verb; it’s a process, something we work on and must continue to work on. It requires active participation from us all. I hope the experts and those with experience in interfaith work in the room will be sharing their thoughts in this debate.
It is incumbent on us in this place to articulate such a vision, of what it means to belong to one another, to build social cohesion, to nurture the values that will sustain us. I look forward to listening deeply to the experiences, contributions and examples of others.
But of course let me be clear it isn’t just faith communities that shape this. There are so many other community groups and others who give themselves to serving and building community. I am extremely grateful for everybody who has come today on a Friday to participate in this debate. I particularly look forward to hearing the maiden speech from the noble lord, Lord Sharma and to draw on his experience of the global factors at work including climate change because if the generations growing up feel there is no future for the planet, how on earth are they going to feel they have a future in their local communities.
Finally, with all that has been happening in the Church of England in recent weeks, I felt I should end on a more sobering note. Unless institutions are safe places for children, families and vulnerable adults, the things we long for and believe in will not come to pass. It’s often said of government that security and safety is the first priority. The recently published Makin review has again revealed shocking failures within the Church of England to safeguard children, and, in this case, vulnerable, young adults. I pay tribute to the victims and survivors who came forward to disclose the horrors they experienced. My heart goes out to them and I apologise for these shameful failings. Moreover, I pledge myself to work purposefully for independent scrutiny of safeguarding in the Church of England and greater operational independence. These are the next steps we must take, and we have much to learn from others.
I hope this debate will be an opportunity for all of us to reflect, discuss, explore policy, to offer what we can as representatives of different places and different perspectives, to commit ourselves and to work across this Parliament to build trust and hope and, in so doing, build socially cohesive communities and institutions.
I beg to move.
- 1https://www.local.gov.uk/about/news/section-114-fear-almost-1-5-council-leaders-and-chief-executives-after-cashless-autumn
- 2https://www.woolf.cam.ac.uk/assets/file-downloads/Woolf-Diversity-Study-2024-Executive-Summary.pdf
- 3https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/dec/03/uk-riots-social-fabric-index-report
- 4https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cley905dg20o