Defiant David Cameron urged West Midlands Police to get tough with the “hooligans, thugs and yobs” plaguing the streets of Wolverhampton and other English cities.

The Prime Minister gave the order during a whistle-stop visit to the city, in which he met some of the traders whose businesses had been devastated by violent looters.

He welcomed the move to double the amount of police on the streets of Wolverhampton last night, part of a total of more than 1,000 officers on duty across the region.

Speaking to the Express & Star, Mr Cameron said: “The number one priority is to reclaim the streets for the law abiding people, who are most of those living in Wolverhampton, and then it can get back to being a successful, popular city with a buzzing economy.

“What happened here on Tuesday night is completely unacceptable and the people of Wolverhampton have every right to be angry about the level of violence and looting.

“I have confidence in the police but there are always lessons to be learnt. This is something they have not had to deal with before. It is very testing for the police.”

Mr Cameron said the riots across England was not a typical public order problem.

He added: “This is just a group of hooligans, thugs and yobs. This is not a protest. There is no legitimacy to it. It is straight forward criminality – just people looting.

“I believe that the police need to come down very hard, get stuck in, arrest the people and make sure that they are put in front of a court.”

Mr Cameron met emergency service staff and traders during a short visit to the Civic Centre in Wolverhampton.