The army should be brought on to the street to restore order, Siobhain McDonagh, the Mitcham and Morden MP has said.

Her words were echoed by her Labour colleague and the Leader of Merton Council, Councillor Stephen Alambritis, as they witnessed the wreckage at the Tandem Centre in Tandem Way this morning.

Ms McDonagh witnessed the trouble in Colliers Wood first hand last night and said drastic action was now needed.

“On a personal level they do need to think about the army. They need bodies on the street and they need to calm things down,” she said.

“If people believe there is no consequence and think they can’t be stopped how are we going to impose any order and how long before someone is seriously hurt?

“I was there last night. I have lived there my whole life and it is better now than it has ever been.

“The idea somebody would want to ruin the neighbourhood and ruin jobs for people is beyond belief. It is unbelievable.”

Police had done a great job but were “completely stretched” she said.

“Police were stretched because of what was going down in Croydon,” she said. “They were completely stretched.

“I spoke to police at 1am who said they had started the day in Barnet and went to Ealing and Clapham Junction before Colliers Wood.”

Ms McDonagh said she would be out reassuring the community today and look at providing details of schemes happening for young people.

Councillor Alambritis said Merton Council's chief executive, Ged Curran, was in dialogue with Merton Police's Borough Commander, Dick Wolfenden, about what steps should be taken to protect residents and businesses from future violence.

He also said the Government should consider deploying the Army: “There are no excuses whatsoever. This is plain, simple, criminal, opportunistic activity laced with violence and a propensity for the use of setting ablaze shops, which is arson.

“The risk of loss of life there is immense because there are a number of flats above shops.

Coun Alambritis said the time had come for the Government to consider deploying the army and the use of curfews if there is a repeat of last night’s London-wide anarchy.

He said: “The use of the army is something that needs to be considered and I would urge the government to look at that.”

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