In an attempt to address the cause of the riots that took over English cities this summer, David Cameron cited human rights and health and safety legislation as one of the main problems.
Speaking in his Oxford constituency, he told the young audience that responsibility needs to be restored right across society and that health and safety was one of the key reasons why rioters and looters felt able to act without common sense.
As part of the speech, he said, "There is an obsession with health and safety that has eroded people's willingness to act according to common sense. As we urgently review the work we are doing on the broken society, judging whether it's ambitious enough, I want to make clear that there will be no holds barred-and that most definitely includes the health and safety culture."
However, pressure group the Hazards Campaign reacted angrily to the speech, calling Mr Cameron's linking of the riots to health and safety "complete rubbish and completely crass."
In a statement, the Campaign said: "Bad and negligent employers cost the UK economy up to £30 billion every year for health and safety failings – not our figures but ten-year-old Government figures, which will be far higher now. The Government’s answer to this is to let employers get away with even more killing, injuring and making workers ill, as well as looting our economy by attacking and cutting health and safety provisions."
They continued, "Until those who run organisations are held accountable for the consequences of their actions they will go on behaving in morally and criminally irresponsible ways. We ask: when will those employers be pursued and punished in a similar way to those being sought now by the Government for rioting and looting?"
