Clegg vows to put prisoners to work

In what Mr Clegg described as “a complex social problem” he announced a series of proposals to try to tackle reoffending after it emerged that more than 60 per cent of those going through the courts from the recent disturbances had previously been known to the police.

He said that as of next March prisoners being released will be “met at the gate” by representatives of the back-to- work programme, which last year would have affected almost 12,000 former inmates.

But at a press conference Mr Clegg appeared to distance himself from his Conservative coalition partners on some tough proposals.

As Prime Minister David Cameron, who had called for an attack on “Broken Britain” this week, toured riot-hit Tottenham in London, Mr Clegg made it clear he did not agree with proposals to withdraw benefits from those convicted of the crimes.

“We are going to take our time to look at this,” he said.

“Of course you need to be proportionate, of course you need to be careful, of course you don’t want to create unintended consequences where the taxpayer ends up footing more of the bill or we create more social problems or problems of law and order.”

However, Mr Clegg insisted that looters will be forced to wear orange suits and help to clean up areas hit by the disturbances as part of “riot payback schemes”.

And despite Mr Cameron dismissing calls for an inquiry, Mr Clegg said he was setting up a panel to look at the problems which led to the riots.

It will not be the full inquiry demanded by Labour leader Ed Miliband but was intended to be part of a “grassroots process” to establish what happened, Mr Clegg said. “We don’t want a grandees’ committee, we want a grassroots process where people in the communities affected and the victims who have been so damaged and hurt can give their views about what needs to happen to ensure it doesn’t happen again.”

Javed Khan, chief executive of Victim Support, welcomed the schemes, saying that victims “want to see the people who wrought havoc on their communities face up to what they have done and repair the damage they have caused”.