The English Defence League (EDL) could be proscribed as a terror organisation in the wake of riots in Southport, Angela Rayner has suggested.

Supporters of the EDL were blamed for the violence on Tuesday night, in which police officers were attacked with rocks and a police van set on fire.

Demonstrations following the stabbing of three girls turned violent after misinformation about the suspect was spread online.

Ms Rayner, the Deputy Prime Minister, said: “We have laws and we have proscribed groups and we do look at that and it is reviewed regularly.

“So I’m sure that that will be something that the Home Secretary [Yvette Cooper] will be looking at as part of the normal course of what we do and the intelligence that we have.

“But I think the bigger issue is about taking on the minority of people that have got thuggish behaviour, that actually that’s not our British values.”

Hizb ut-Tahrir, a extremist group that organised pro-Palestinian protests, was the last organisation to be proscribed as a terrorist group by the Government.

Proscription means it becomes an offence to be a member of the group or to support it, and carries a maximum jail sentence of up to 14 years and/or a fine of up to £5,000 for doing so.

Both Sir Keir Starmer and Ms Cooper condemned the violence on Tuesday night and said those responsible would face the “full force of the law”. Ms Cooper also criticised those “seeking to use events to stir up division or advance their own views”.

Sir Keir said: “Those who have hijacked the vigil for the victims with violence and thuggery have insulted the community as it grieves. They will feel the full force of the law.”

North West Ambulance Service said 39 officers were injured and 27 were taken to hospital in the riots. Some officers sustained serious injuries including fractures, lacerations, a suspected broken nose and concussion.

The violence is believed to have been carried out by people who came from outside Southport. It followed a vigil to remember the three girls who were killed in the attack identified on Tuesday as six-year-old Bebe King, seven-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe and nine-year-old Alice Dasilva Aguiar, took place nearby.

Responding to the riots inspired by EDL, Ms Rayner said: “The inciting of violence and violence on the street has absolutely no place in our democracy, and we have to crack down on those that perpetuate violence and spread it within our communities.”

Pointing to crises in the NHS and housing, she said: “It’s an absolute failure of politics to turn around and say ‘it’s because these people are here or whatever’.”

Ms Rayner also criticised Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, for “stirring up fake news online” about the reasons behind the Southport knife attack.

She told LBC Radio that, as an MP, Mr Farage has “a level of responsibility”, “and it’s not to stoke up what conspiracy theories or what you think might have happened”.

“There’s a responsibility to say the police are doing a difficult job, local authorities, all of the services that are on the ground.

“We have a responsibility to hold the community together and say let’s get the facts, and then let’s look at what the actual solutions are and what we can do about the horrific situation that we find ourselves in, not to stir up these fake news online.”

In a video statement posted on X, formerly Twitter, Mr Farage said important questions about the case remained, including whether there was any truth in suggestions that the suspect was on a security services watch list and whether it was terror-related.

“I just wonder whether the truth is being withheld from us. I don’t know the answer, but I think it is a fair and legitimate question. What I do know is that something is going horribly wrong in our once beautiful country,” he said.