UK: Prime Minister David Cameron insisted the “fightback” by police was succeeding today after a fourth night of rioting across the country.

Mr Cameron said it was “simply not acceptable” that violence was taking place and had spread to Manchester, Birmingham and Nottingham overnight.

“We will not put up with this in our country,” he told journalists outside Number 10. “We will not allow a culture of fear to exist on our streets.”

The Prime Minister said “whatever resources the police need they will get”, and disclosed that water cannons were being made available.

“Whatever tactics the police feel they need to employ, they will have legal backing to do so,” he said.

Speaking in Downing Street after London mayor Boris Johnson raised concerns about the coalition’s cuts to police budgets, Mr Cameron said senior officers had reassured him this morning that they had the resources they need.

“We will not do anything that will reduce the amount of visible policing on our streets,” he insisted.

The Premier, who had chaired a meeting of the government’s Cobra emergency committee to assess the situation, said: “We needed a fightback, and a fightback is under way.

“We have seen the worst of Britain, but I also believe we have seen some of the best of Britain - the million people who have signed up on Facebook to support the police, coming together in the clean-up operations.”

Mr Cameron said more arrests would take place as police sift through the mass of evidence they have accumulated.

“Picture by picture, the criminals are being identified and arrested,” he said.