The office of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer issued sharp criticism Friday against U.S. Vice President JD Vance following his remarks connecting immigration to the stabbing death of a British university student who was placed in handcuffs while dying from his wounds.
Eighteen-year-old Henry Nowak lost his life after Vickrum Digwa stabbed him in Southampton, England last December. Digwa, a Sikh man, gave false statements to authorities claiming Nowak, who was white, had launched a racist attack against him. Responding officers initially viewed the injured victim as a perpetrator before discovering his wounds and attempting life-saving measures.
The 23-year-old Digwa received a murder conviction for fatally stabbing Nowak with an 8-inch Sikh dagger and was given a life sentence this week requiring at least 21 years behind bars.
Anti-immigration groups and political figures have used the incident for their causes, though both Nowak and Digwa held British citizenship. Violence erupted Tuesday in Southampton when demonstrators, including far-right participants, threw chairs, cans, stones and flares at police officers during a protest regarding Nowak’s killing.
In a Friday post on social media platform X, Vance declared there should be “righteous anger” about the murder, attributing it partially to “the mass invasion of migrants, many of whom despise the West and the people who love it.”
Starmer’s office responded by condemning those “trying to interfere in our democracy and seeking to stir up division on our streets.”
“The Nowak family are grieving after Henry’s horrific murder. They have said they do not want his death to be used to create further division, hatred or tension. We should be respecting their wishes,” the Downing Street statement read. “Our politics should bring people together even in the most terrible of circumstances. That is who we are as a country.”
Ed Davey, who leads the centrist opposition Liberal Democrats, stated “we all need to resist attempts like this to politicize Henry Nowak’s death and divide our country — whether they come from MAGA politicians like Vance or their cronies here in the U.K..”
Various politicians, including Nigel Farage who heads the hard-right Reform UK party, have argued the police handling demonstrates “two-tier” law enforcement that discriminates against white individuals within Britain’s justice system.
The U.S. State Department repeated the “two-tier” policing accusation in a Thursday X post, offering sympathy to Nowak’s family while stating that “Ideological conditioning and two-tiered policing are glaring symptoms of civilizational decline.”
British officials dismissed the “two-tier” claims, which lack support from statistical data.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct, responsible for investigating police misconduct allegations, is examining how officers responded to Nowak’s stabbing incident.
Mark Nowak, the victim’s father, has emphasized the case involves neither racism nor religion, expressing his desire for his son’s death to promote street safety rather than generate “further division, hatred or tension.”
