The scenes of thuggery on British streets in recent days have been nothing short of horrifying. Whole communities have been upturned by a wave of violent unrest, which has opened deep wounds in towns and cities across the country.

There is a big difference between peaceful protesting against our laws - which is perfectly acceptable - and the actions of aggressive criminals that are against the law - which are not.

The violence perpetrated is appalling and unacceptable – plain and simple. Those responsible for inciting these incidents must be brought to justice. Some of the towns affected have rallied with a desire to clear up the mess and show solidarity with the victims of the heinous Southport killings.

Throughout all of this, the brave men and women who serve in the police have been on the frontline – trying to keep the peace and limit the damage. This is incredibly challenging work, undertaken by selfless people who want to see protected those places we call home.

In recent years we’ve seen criticism directed at the way the police have been led. This has sometimes been about operational decisions of senior officers, yet political leadership has more often been to blame.

Theresa May as Home Secretary had a perverse idea that you could cut the police and continue to see crime levels fall. It worked for a few years, while the police lost thousands of hard-bitten, experienced officers. They are being replaced in terms of numbers of officers, but the experience lost in the Theresa May era will take years to build back.

Last Friday I joined some of the officers working out of the Honiton station for a late shift, so I could see up-close the work they do. I was really impressed by them: their ability to combine compassion for victims - mostly women, from what I saw - with toughness, in the face of suspected violent offenders. I left them to it at the Emergency Department at Wonford hospital.

I am in no doubt that our local police have our backs; they are doing all they can to keep us safe. We should give them our full support so that they can keep doing this vital but too often unrecognised work.