Home secretary Theresa May has outlined the government's new tough approach to disorder, saying that under-18s guilty of riot related offences should be named and shamed.
"I've asked that CPS [Crown Prosecution Service] guidance should go to prosecutors to say that where possible they should be asking for the anonymity of juveniles that have been found guilty of criminal activity to be lifted", she told Sky News on Sunday morning.
In comments that will do little to calm tension between the government and police, she suggested that police increased their presence on the streets during the riots as a result of orders from her and the prime minister.
"What we saw happening over last weekend and in the early days of last week meant that the police tactics did have to change in terms of how they were addressing the riots and the criminality that we were seeing on our streets. Now, the police and the politicians have different jobs to do here... it's my job as home secretary to ensure that the police know what the public want them to do. It's clear that the public wanted them to get tough. They did that, they changed their tactics and we saw it had an impact", she said.
"The prime minister and I were very clear about two things. We wanted to see a presence on the streets, we also wanted to see a tough arrest policy, that has been followed through. We also want to see swift justice, we're seeing that through the courts and tough sentences given. We're seeing all of that."
She said across the UK 2,800 people have now been arrested and over 1,000 have gone through the courts.
May denied that cuts in police budgets would affect police's "ability to do the job the public want them to do" and said the increase in police numbers would not continue "indefinitely", adding that the government's emergency committee Cobra would meet on Monday morning to see how to move ahead.
But her comments were almost immediately undermined by London mayor Boris Johnson who said Londonders wanted to see "loads of police" on the streets.
The home secretary also said she would bring together a "group of people together internationally" to work out the UK's response to gangs.