Afternoon summary
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Alexis Boon, chief constable of Hampshire and Isle of Wight police, has said the force is “sorry for handcuffing and arresting Henry [Nowak]”. (See 5.15pm and 5.39pm.)
For a full list of all the stories covered on the blog today, do scroll through the list of key event headlines near the top of the blog.
Reeves announces plan for Greater Cambridge development corporation
Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, has said she wants to see the Oxford to Cambidge growth corridor become “a top-ten global innovation cluster”.
She welcomed the ambition in a speech to the scientific superpower conference where she said:
I am clear that in our modern economy – the impact of regional investment will be most powerfully felt if we focus on dense, interconnected city regions.
That is why at the centre of our plans are two critical regional growth corridors.
The Oxford to Cambridge growth corridor and the Northern Growth ccorridor.
These corridors share something in common and they share strong fundamentals.
They have world-leading universities, innovative firms, and real commercial momentum behind them.
Reeves also announced plans for a Greater Cambridge development corporation, which the Treasury said would “bring land together for development, invest in key sites and unlock stalled and derelict land - tackling housing affordability, cutting commuter delays, breaking down barriers to employment, and improving connectivity”.
Here is a fuller version of Alexis Boon, chief constable of Hampshire and Isle of Wight police, saying sorry for his officers arresting and handcuffing Henry Nowak. He told the BBC:
What was filmed there was a tragedy, an absolute tragedy. You can’t help but be affected by it.
It’s very difficult to watch. It’s difficult footage to watch. And I really feel for the family at this time.
And I understand their point of view and why they’re upset with the police.
We have said we are sorry for handcuffing and arresting Henry at that time.
What we have currently is an independent investigation into what happened.
I would just ask people not to prejudge an independent investigation or make assumptions, because it needs to consider all the evidence and let the officers talk about their point of view as well, so that there is a fair and independent investigation.
The key point here is that we arrested and handcuffed Henry. That is their point around dignity. And we have said sorry for that.
Hampshire chief constable says his force 'sorry for handcuffing and arresting' Henry Nowak
Alexis Boon, chief constable of Hampshire and Isle of Wight police, has said the force is “sorry for handcuffing and arresting Henry [Nowak]”.
In an interview with the BBC, Boon said watching the bodycam footage of Nowak being arrested was “very difficult watch”.
He said:
What was filmed there is a tragedy, an absolute tragedy, you can’t help but be affected by it.
I really feel for the family of Henry at this time.
Boon said he understood Nowak’s family’s “point of view and why they’re upset with the police”.
He said that was why the force have said “we are sorry for handcuffing and arresting Henry” at that time.
Former officer in hiding after being falsely linked to Nowak arrest
A former police officer has been forced to flee to a safe space after she was falsely accused online of being involved in the Henry Nowak murder, Jamie Grierson reports.
Christi Hill, who served as a police constable for 12 years, has criticised social media and AI platforms, including Elon Musk’s Grok, for spreading the false claim that she was one of the officers who arrested Nowak as he lay dying after being stabbed by Vickrum Digwa. Hill and another officer have been wrongly identified online. The home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, said on Tuesday that a male officer had been misidentified and that he had had to move out of his home.
Here is Jamie’s story in full.
Sinn Féin says PM's apology over 'Springhill massacre' amounts to 'important moment' in families' fight for justice
Paul Maskey, the Sinn Féin MP for West Belfast, has said that Keir Starmer’s apology today over the killing of five people in the city in 1972 (see 2.37pm) is an “important moment” in the families’ fight for justice. Maskey said:
Today, my thoughts are with the families of John Dougal, David McCafferty, Margaret Gargan, Paddy Butler and Fr Noel Fitzpatrick, as well as those relatives who sadly did not live to see this day.
For more than 50 years, these families have shown remarkable strength, perseverance and dignity in their pursuit of truth. Their tireless efforts have ensured that the reality of what happened in Springhill and Westrock on 9 July 1972 has been exposed and formally recognised.
The apology issued today by the British government is a significant acknowledgment of the grave injustice inflicted and represents an important moment in the families’ long struggle for justice.
It is only because of their steadfast refusal to accept falsehoods and their determination to challenge the British government’s narrative that we have reached this point.
The events of the Springhill/Westrock massacre continue to cast a long shadow over our community. They stand as a painful reminder not only of the lives that were taken, but also of the culture of impunity that surrounded the actions of the British Army.
This massacre is one of many tragic incidents that form part of Britain’s legacy of conflict and loss in Ireland. It underlines the extraordinary lengths families have been forced to go to in order to secure truth, accountability and recognition.
Updated
Andy Burnham has issued this statement today about Henry Nowak in his capacity as mayor of Greater Manchester. He says there will be a further statement tomorrow.
Rightwingers argue that Henry Nowak was let down by the police because they took an accusation of racial abuse coming from a Sikh family more seriously than an accusation of stabbing from a white teenager. That was a key theme of Nigel Farage’s TV statement yesterday (see 8.41am) and Kemi Badenoch’s article in the Daily Mail today (see 10.10am).
But this argument is inherently flawed. Stephen Bush has a good column in the Financial Times today that leans heavily on the account of what happened given by the judge in his summary remarks at the end of the trial of Nowak’s killer, Vickrum Digwa. (See 11.11am.)
Here’s an extract. Bush says:
I’m not saying that the Hampshire police emerge blamelessly from this story … But I am saying that it is simply not tenable to suggest that the problem here was that the police were more preoccupied with accusations of racism than an act of murder. The police were taken in by the word of two people at the scene against the word of one. Unless what you want is for the police to treat any allegation of racism as automatically specious and malign, and to take the word of one white Briton over two people from an ethnic minority, Digwa’s lie was always going to succeed briefly.
There is a reasonable debate to be had about how suspects are treated. But we should be clear that the issue here wasn’t that the Hampshire police decided that an accusation of racism was more serious than a stabbing. It was that, faced with two people giving a false account of what had happened and one person telling the truth, they sided with two over one.
Russian ambassador summoned by Foreign Office over Romanian drone incident
Vladimir Putin’s representative in the UK has been summoned to the Foreign Office after a Russian drone struck a building in Romania, the Press Association reports. PA says:
The Russian ambassador in London Andrei Kelin was called in for a dressing down over the incident last week which left two people injured and violated the airspace of a Nato member state.
The incident saw a drone crash into a block of flats in the eastern Romanian city of Galati, near the country’s border with Ukraine.
A Foreign Office spokesperson said: “Injuring innocent civilians on Nato territory is unacceptable and a stark reminder of the threat that Ukrainian civilians are having to endure on a daily basis.”
Kelin was summoned to meet a senior official who “strongly condemned this grave escalation”, the spokesman said.
“Russia continues to show blatant disregard for civilian life, firing hundreds of drones and missiles into Ukraine and threatening its near neighbours. Recent warnings for diplomats to leave Kyiv were irresponsible and unjustified,” the spokesman said.
“The UK stands firmly with Ukraine, Romania and all of our Nato allies and we will defend every inch of Nato territory.”
Minister rejects claims of 'cover-up' as MPs begin debate on Mandelson files
Nick Thomas-Symonds, the Cabinet Office minister, has rejected suggestions that Keir Starmer’s use of disappearing messages in WhatsApp amounted to some sort of “cover-up” of information relating to Peter Mandelson.
Speaking at the start of the debate on the Mandelson files released on Monday, Thomas-Symonds said due process was followed when material was prepared for publication.
The Tory MP Edward Leigh said that Starmer was using WhatsApp all the time and that having disappearing messages on was contrary to the advice given after the Covid inquiry.
Leigh put it to the minister:
Everybody knows that a mistake was made. People are very forgiving to the prime minister who made a mistake. What they’re not forgiving to is some sort of cover-up, that all these numerous text messages and WhatsApp messages have suddenly vanished.
In response to this claim, Thomas-Symonds said he did not accept there was a cover-up. He explained:
I reject it for this reason: this was a process that was quite rightly driven by and led by officials without political interference, working with the intelligence and security committee, that is very well respected across this house and is a cross-party committee.
There is not a single redaction in those documents that came about because of ministerial decisions, simply because we have not played that part in the process, nor should we have done. So I completely reject the idea of a cover-up.
Reeves says she uses disappearing messages in WhatsApp 'like most ministers'
Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, has confirmed that she, like Keir Starmer, uses disappearing messages in WhatsApp. On a visit today, asked about this, she said:
Like most ministers, I do have disappearing messages in WhatsApp, but everything in the humble address was fully complied with by ministers across government, including myself and other Treasury ministers, as you would rightly expect.
Cost of living and high street among top priorities for Makerfield voters, poll shows
Voters in Makerfield rank the cost of living, declining high streets and public services as among the most important issues locally, with many also disillusioned by the political system and distrustful of politicians, according to new research. Hannah Al-Othman has the story.
Starmer offers apology on behalf of state over killing of five Catholics in Northern Ireland by army in 1972
Rory Carroll is the Guardian’s Ireland correspondent.
Keir Starmer has apologised on behalf of the UK government to the families of five people who were shot dead in west Belfast in 1972. (See 12.07pm.)
In April, a coroner concluded that British Army soldiers “did not use reasonable force” in the shooting of a Catholic priest, a father-of-six and three teenagers at Springhill/Westrock on July 9 1972.
Mr Justice Scoffield said Father Noel Fitzpatrick, 42, father-of-six Patrick Butler, 38, and teenagers David McCafferty and Margaret Gargan were unarmed and posed no risk when they were shot.
The coroner said he was unable to conclude whether the other teenager, 16-year-old John Dougal, was armed when he was shot.
He said the teenager was a member of the junior wing of the Provisional IRA but added that on balance he concluded that John had not progressed into the ranks of the adult IRA.
The coroner said even if the teenager had been in possession of a firearm, he was not using it and was likely to have been running away when he was shot in the back.
The families of those killed had called for a public apology and had recently criticised the government over its “silence” after the inquest findings.
The prime minister has now written to the families individually to personally apologise for what happened and the grief and suffering they have endured.
He also made a formal apology at PMQs today. (See 12.07pm.)
He said:
The findings of the recent Springhill inquest into the tragic deaths in July 1972 of Father Noel Fitzpatrick, Patrick Butler, Margaret Gargan, David McCafferty and John Dougal are sobering.
While the circumstances in which the events occurred were undoubtedly challenging, it is the duty of the state to hold itself to the highest standard.
The government accepts and deeply regrets these findings, and recognises their gravity.
On behalf of the government, I want to apologise unreservedly to the families for what happened and for the grief and trauma that they have endured since the tragic deaths of their loved ones.
Ben Habib proposes shelving his Advance UK party to create more space for Restore Britain to take on Reform UK
Ben Quinn is a Guardian political correspondent.
Advance UK, the hard-right outfit set up by former Reform UK deputy leader Ben Habib, has announced it is stepping aside to make way for Rupert Lowe’s Restore Britain to become the main force trying to emerge as a rival to Nigel Farage’s party.
Habib used a video message on X to announced that Advance UK would be de-registering as a political party and was “taking a step back” to prevent “confusion” on the party of voters looking for a right-wing alternative to Reform.
Advance UK has a few dozen councillors around England, mainly those who have defected from Reform and other places, while the far-right activist known as Tommy Robinson has identified himself as a supporter in the past.
The move now potentially opens up the potential for Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, to team up with Restore Britain, which was set up by the former Reform MP Rupert Lowe.
Lowe used X to praise Habib’s announcement, adding that his one-time Reform UK colleague and the Advance UK membership would be welcome in Restore Britain, but he added that it was a decision for them to make.
Updated
PMQs - snap verdict
In terms of the exchanges between the PM and the leader of the opposition, that was not quite a consensus PMQs. Kemi Badenoch asked about welfare, taunted the PM over his record, and came out with an OK jibe about Starmer being a “caretaker”. But it was all quite gentle, and Badenoch did not really score any hits. Her key decision was not politicise the central news of the day. In fact, Starmer even commended her for her stance on the Henry Nowak murder. (See 12.15pm – did he know in advance she was going to lead on welfare?) Badenoch’s choice of subject matter seems to have come as a disappointment to GB News (aka Reform UK TV), but it meant the Starmer/Badenoch exchanges felt more mature and sensible than they normally do.
One consequence of that was that the most important confrontation of the session came when Nigel Farage asked a question, and Starmer responded. (See 12.46pm.) In PMQs terms, this was a resounding win; Farage was knocked out of the park. But not because Starmer was particularly aggressive, or funny, or because he blindsided Farage with a clever argument; it was a victory of tone. Starmer got it right, and Farage got it wrong. (Unless you are a GB News viewer, perhaps.)
It is hard to imagine that Badenoch is particularly comfortable with being seen as constructive and non-partisan in her dealings with Starmer (particularly if, in doing so, she helped him grind down Farage). This is definitely not her default mode. No doubt normal service will resume next week.
Calvin Bailey (Lab) said that, as chair of the all-party parliamentary group on prostate cancer, he welcomed the news that more black men are being invited in for checks.
He said this was justified because black men have double the risk of getting prostate cancer. But, he said, Reform UK had responded to this news with “divisive weasel words and race baiting”.
Bailey was referring to this social media post from Zia Yusuf, the Reform UK home affairs spokesperson, last night.
On the day the whole political establishment claims we do not live in a two tier country, they announce this.
Note, the NHS makes NO drugs available exclusively to white people.
Starmer said the government was determined to improve cancer care.
Bob Blackman (Con) asked the government to proscribe the IRGC and to take action against Iran-backed charities operating in the UK.
Starmer said proscription-type powers were being introduced for state entities, and he said the government would announce “further steps in coming days”.
Starmer says Reform just offering 'grievance and division' in Makerfield byelection
Andrew Rosindell (Ref) asked about Havering, where Reform won the council in the local elections.
That gave Starmer a chance to have a go at the Reform UK candidate in Makerfield, Robert Kenyon. He said:
I have studied the candidate for Makerfield, the Reform candidate, since he brings up election. A self-professed sexist said women who get abortions do it for vanity purposes, encouraged people not to get the Covid vaccine, and said Russia was within its rights to invade Crimea.
Reform have got nothing to offer but grievance and division yet again.
Starmer criticises Farage for past comments opposing taxpayer-funded NHS
Tristan Osborne (Lab) asked Starmer about NHS treatments for memory loss.
He went on:
A very distressing case was recently brought to my attention by a constituent in a village in my constituency, of a man who could not remember his own words, even though he said it on television that the NHS should not be funded through general taxation.
What can we do to ensure my constituents to ecure clarity on future Kent and Medway NHS funding? And what can we do to help the leader of Reform UK [Nigel Farage – the person who claims not to remember previously proposing a different way of funding the NHS].
Starmer replied:
The Reform leader wants everyone to forget that he called for our NHS to be replaced with an insurance based system. You might want to jot it down to jog his memory.
And then he said that if people can pay, they should pay for NHS treatment. So we can help him by jolting his memory here.
You cannot trust Reform with our NHS. The only way to protect it is to vote Labour.
Liz Saville Roberts, the Plaid Cymru leader at Westminster, asked Starmer if he would give more powers to the Senedd.
Starmer said that he had spoken to Rhun ap Iorwerth, the new first minister, and that he would “work constructively, with the first minister and with the government in Wales, because that’s the right thing to do to deliver for Wales”.
Updated
Starmer condemns Farage at PMQs, condemning his 'rage' response to Nowak murder as 'unforgivable' snub to victim's family
Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, also asked about the Nowak murder.
He said:
Following the horrendous circumstances of Henry Nowak’s death, can I urge the prime minister to consider this?
It is now clear to growing millions in this country that we are living under two tier policing.
The instructions that are given to police officers from police bosses are clear and written down in ink. It says you must treat different ethnic groups in different ways.
Farage suggested that was behind “the upset and the anger at the circumstances of his death, the anger that you saw spilling out in Southampton last night”.
Some MPs jeered at Farage, saying he should condemn the violence.
Farage went on:
If the public lose trust in being treated fairly by the police, can he take some action to end this divisive practice of two-tier policing and make sure that all British citizens are treated the same?
Starmer said: “I don’t believe there’s two-tier policing in this country.”
And he said that he was “really shocked” by Farage’s approach. He said Farage pretended to respect Nowak’s family. But he was acting like this.
Starmer went on:
The grieving family have asked us not to respond in the way that the leader of Reform has responded. They’ve asked us not to. They have lost their son in the most appalling circumstance. They make a simple plea of us as human beings to please not exploit that.
That is their plea to us. We all need to reflect on those words of Henry’s father.
My response – and the response of others, to be fair – has [been focused] on the lessons to be learned so we can deliver justice.
His response has been to appeal for rage.
That’s his response to a father who’s lost his son and asked for that not to happen.
Exploiting this tragedy to create grievance and division would be wrong in any circumstances, but to do it when the family are expressly saying please don’t is unforgivable. It shows who he is.
Noah Law (Lab) asked about the murder of Henry Nowak.
Starmer said he felt sick watching the video of Nowak being arrested.
He went on:
Henry’s father said this we do not want his death to be used to create further division, hatred or tension.
There are the words of a grieving father who’s lost his son.
We do not want his death to be used to create further division, hatred or tension.
I think those words have resonated with people across the country.
We must not allow this tragedy to be hijacked by anyone who seeks to divide us.
His final words seemed designed to set up the next MP to ask a question – Nigel Farage.
With his second question, Davey turned to Labour internal politics. And he delivered a very good joke.
With our armed forces overstretched, Labour now seems to be investing in a new weapon of war – the long-form essay.
It gives another meaning to the phrase drone warfare.
Davey went on:
Tony Blair says the UK should suck up to Donald Trump, kowtow to US tech barons and go slow on Europe.
The prime minister must be grateful for this rare endorsement of his agenda.
Blair also claims that the sensible people aren’t radical and the radical people aren’t sensible.
Is the prime minister concerned that unless he changes course, he will be remembered for being neither radical nor sensible?
Starmer said Davey spoilt what had been a good joke.
And he said he was suprised that Davey was not welcoming the tax cuts for theme parks.
Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, used his first question to ask about Henry Nowak.
The murder of Henry Nowak was an evil crime made much worse by the lies of the killer and the police response. The investigation must uncover all things that went wrong, and all police forces must act on its conclusions.
Outside court, Henry’s father made a powerful plea that his son’s murder should not be used to create further division, but should be used to treat knife crime as a national emergency.
Does the prime minister agree that the victims of knife crime and their families deserve a politics where we come together to solve these problems and not use them as a political football?
Starmer thanked Davey for his approach and said that it was the duty of politicians “to bring people together at a time like this, not seek to divide people”.
Badenoch says Starmer just 'caretaker' PM, 'keeping seat warm' for Burnham
Badenoch said Labour MPs were cheering for Starmer even though he released their text messages.
He is more than happy to release all their text messages while all of his have disappeared.
Disappearing messages from a disappearing PM.
There is a conservative solution benefits bill down, taxes down, growth up.
Badenoch said that Starmer was now just “a caretaker, keeping the seat warm for the mayor of Manchester”.
Starmer replied:
Forgive me if I don’t take too much notice of the leader of the opposition.
For 14 years they broke our welfare system, lost control of our borders, presided over the biggest fall in living standards on record, broke the economy, prisons, the NHS. I could go on and on.
No wonder she and they are totally irrelevant.
Starmer backs McFadden over his position on welfare reform
Badenoch said McFadden also said that in all meetings with Labour MPs, they wanted to raise taxes to pay benefits. She asks if Starmer will take the advice in Tony Blair’s essay and work with the Tories on welfare reform.
Starmer replied:
They introduced a system that’s broken and they put the bill through the roof. And now they want to give us advice on welfare. No thanks, no thanks.
The question should always be not what benefits people are entitled to, but what help we can give people to change their life.
That’s what the work and pensions secretary was arguing. And he’s right about that.
Referring to revelations in the Mandelson files, Badenoch asked Starmer if he agreed with Pat McFadden, the work and pensions secretary, that the failure of the welfare reform act last year was “the moment he lost his authority”.
Starmer said he was proud of his record.
Despite the war in the Middle East, the OECD forecast UK growth is up and inflation is down.
Net migration, which reached nearly one million under them, and the leader of the opposition was the cheerleader, down by a staggering 82%.
The asylum backlog down by 46%.
We’re delivering the fastest reduction in waiting times in the NHS in the history of the NHS. That’s on top of free school meals, free breakfast clubs and free childcare.
And of course, we’re lifting half a million children out of poverty.
I’m very proud of the work of this Labour government.
Badenoch said the welfare bill went up under the last government because of Covid.
She said Starmer had given up on welfare reform.
On Sunday, the welfare secretary was asked 12 times on national radio if he would make cuts to the benefits bill and 12 times he could not answer. So I will ask the prime minister, is he going to cut the benefits bill?
Starmer said Labour is reforming the system to get young people into work. The Tories left the system broken, he said.
Badenoch said the welfare bill had gone up by £20bn under Labour. She asked why there was no welfare bill in the king’s speech.
Starmer said the government was reforming the welfare system “so it no longer pushes people away from work”.
That’s what we’re doing. They voted against it.
Welfare reform is introducing a right to try, to incentivise people to take up opportunities. That’s what we’re doing. They voted against it.
Welfare reform is providing record funding on apprenticeships. That’s what we’re doing. Apprenticeship starts fell by 40% on their watch.
Under the Tories, welfare spending soared, Starmer said.
Starmer thanks Badenoch for 'tone' she has taken in relation to Nowak tragedy
Kemi Badenoch, after paying tribute to Alan Haselhurst, asked Starmer how much the welfare bill has gone up under Labour.
Starmer started by thanking Badenoch for her “approach and tone” in relation to the Henry Nowak tragedy.
On welfare, he said
We inherited a broken system from the party opposite. and we are now improving that system, delivering a youth guarantee, rolling out 300,000 work experience placements.
He said the benefits bill went up under the Tories – when the welfare secretary was Mel Stride, now shadow chancellor.
Roz Savage (Lib Dem) asked Starmer to impose a cap on political donations.
Starmer said the government has capped donations. He went on:
But the $5 million question, £5m question still remains. Why is the leader of Reform dodging questions about his donations? And why did he keep it secret in the first place?
Starmer says attacks on police in Southampton last night 'disgraceful', and calls for 'serious work, not rage'
Starmer says the news of the Royal Navy helicopter crash is very worrying.
And this is what Starmer says about Henry Nowak in his opening statement.
Henry Nowak’s family have shown extraordinary dignity after their son’s life was stolen in appalling circumstances. He was clearly a kind and thoughtful and much loved young man.
There are serious questions to answer, including how accusations of racism informed police thinking, and are supporting the IOPC to get to the bottom of what happened.
But no matter the pain we feel, there is no justification for more violence and disorder.
The attacks directed towards police officers in Southampton last night were disgraceful and completely unacceptable.
This is a time for serious work, not rage.
Keir Starmer starts by paying tribute to Alan Haselhurst, the former deputy speaker who has died.
Starmer says by referring to the Springhill inquest, covering the deaths of five Catholics killed by the army in Northern Ireland in 1972. He offers an apology on behalf of the state
(He was in Northern Ireland for a funeral on Monday.)
Starmer says:
The government accepts and deeply regrets these findings [from the inquest] and recognises their gravity. On behalf of the government, I want to apologise unreservedly to the families for what happened and for the grief and trauma that they have endured since the tragic deaths of their loved ones.
Updated
Starmer faces Badenoch at PMQs
PMQs is about to start.
Here is the list of MPs who have got a question.
Wes Streeting joins those condemning Reform UK's misleading social media post about Badenoch
Wes Streeting, the former health secretary, has joined those condemning the Reform UK ad attacking Kemi Badenoch. (See 11.47am.) Even though Badenoch won’t have a vote in any possible future Labour leadership contest, he says it is “disgraceful and dangerous” – and the sort of thing that should be challenged by people from all parties.
I’m not going to amplify Reform’s ad by sharing it, but the wilful misrepresentation of Kemi Badenoch - selectively quoting what she said about ‘white lives matter’ - is disgraceful and dangerous.
It needs to be challenged, including by those of us who are not Conservatives.
This may be the first time Streeting and Rupert Lowe have agreed on anything. (See 11.47am.)
Zia Yusuf defends Reform UK social media post implying Badenoch does not care about white lives
Yesterday Reform UK posted a message on its official X account saying:
Kemi Badenoch, just like Starmer, doesn’t care.
Only Reform UK will openly say that white lives matter too.
It was accompanied by this attack advert.
This was a version of a message that Robert Jenrick, the former Tory who is now Reform UK’s Treasury spokesperson, posted on X earlier. He also said that Badenoch said she did not want to hear about white lives matter.
Both messages have been condemned as grossly misleading because they are quoting from an interview where Badenoch said she did not want to hear about Black Lives Matter or white lives matter because she thinks everyone matters.
In a sign of how controversial this was, even Rupert Lowe, the Restore Britain leader whose party is even more extreme and provocative than Reform UK, said: “Reform putting out an attack ad on Kemi Badenoch misquoting her over Henry Nowak’s tragic death is a deeply misguided, ugly and offensive move.”
But, in his interview on Sky News this morning, Zia Yusuf, the Reform UK home affairs spokesperson, defended the ad. He said that the words quoted were accurate, and he claimed that it was legitimate to point our the difference between what Badenoch said six years ago and what she said this week.
When it was put to him that the ad implied Badenoch did not care about white lives, Yusuf replied:
You can make that argument … She is unwilling to say that white lives matter. That is the point that we’re making. And that is a perfectly valid point to make.
The Green party has also condemned those trying to create divisions in the light of Henry Nowak’s murder. It issued this statement from the Green MP Siân Berry saying:
Those who seek to use this tragedy to incite violence, create division in our communities and further their own political ambitions, are deeply irresponsible and deserve no place in our public life.”
We also reject attempts to scapegoat the entire Sikh community for an act carried out by a single individual and we stand in solidarity with them.
Southampton community leaders have accused the far right of bussing people into the city to “fuel” violence to further their own agenda following the murder of Henry Nowak, the Press Association reports.
Sarah Bogle, the Labour leader of the Southampton council, said:
They were pretty awful scenes last night and very unwelcome to see that level of disturbance in what is normally a very quiet neighbourhood …
It’s a huge tragedy for [Nowak] and his family and it’s awful when these tragedies are weaponised by people who should know better, whether it’s politicians or the far right – it really is unwelcome.
Caroline Nokes, Conservative MP for Romsey and Southampton North, said:
The Sikh community forms a significant part of Southampton’s social fabric, particularly within the Southampton North part of my constituency. Swaythling is home to one of the city’s gurdwaras, and I know how anxious members of the Sikh faith in the city feel right now.
The city needs calm, restraint and respect for the rule of law.
Darren Paffey, Labour MP for Southampton Itchen, said:
This was not a lawful and peaceful protest. Instead, it was the grotesque and cynical spectacle of a young man’s death being used to whip up division, inflame tensions, and provoke criminal disorder.
Satvir Kaur, Labour MP for Southampton Test, said:
At a time when a family and community are in mourning, we should be coming together, not stoking division and pitting communities against each other.
Rural UK ‘particularly at risk’ of diesel shortages if Iran war continues
Rural areas in the UK would be particularly at risk of diesel shortages if the conflict in Iran continues to squeeze supplies, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has warned. Heather Stewart has the story.
What trial judge said about conduct of police who arrested Nowak after he was stabbed
In the light of all the comment about the policy bodycam footage released on Monday night showing Henry Nowak being handcuffed as he was dying, it is worth flagging up what Judge William Mousley said about the police in his sentencing remarks at the end of the trial of Vickrum Digwa.
Another consequence of those lies is that the attending police officers honestly believed that there were reasonable grounds for suspecting Henry had committed an offence and arrested him with the consequence he was handcuffed for about a minute before his condition further deteriorated and the arresting officer began CPR. The police were given a convincing but wholly false narrative of the incident. It was dark and Henry was wearing a dark top. The entry damage caused by the knife through it, would not have been obvious. Whilst there was visible blood on Henry, it would not have clearly been seen coming from that wound and the clearly visible facial wound was not lifethreatening. Henry was complaining that he had been stabbed and was struggling to breathe but that would not have necessarily told the officers how serious the situation had become. It is the experience of the criminal courts that sometimes, someone arrested and handcuffed will feign injury in the hope they may be released. These police officers were faced with having to make quick decisions in pressurised circumstances about the best way to act. The genuine shock to the particular police officer, when he realised that he had been giving CPR to Henry when he had a serious chest wound tends to show that he was doing his best in a very difficult situation.
Here is Guardian footage of protesters clashing with the police in Southampton last night.
And here are some pictures from last night.
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Reform UK would ban police race action plans, Zia Yusuf says
Zia Yusuf, the Reform UK home affairs spokesperson, told Sky News this morning that he thought the treatment of Henry Nowak did justify his party’s claim that two-tier policing operates in the country. He said:
Having watched that footage [of Nowak’s arrest] … it’s hard to escape the conclusion that it is a demonstrable example of structural two-tier policing that is embedded in Hampshire police force and forces across the country.
People can go to Hampshire police’s website and read their race action plan that was brought about under a Tory government.
Even if it was well intentioned at the time, it demands that police officers must focus their attentions on offences against ethnic minority communities.
And that is why that is why when those officers attended the scene, the accusation of racism from the murderer and his brother was … immediately taken seriously. And the accusation from poor Henry that he had been stabbed, which any reasonable person would agree is a far greater immediate potential threat to life – suddenly there was a burden of proof …
So if we now live in a country where an accusation of racism is so powerful that you can stab somebody repeatedly and have your victim handcuffed by the police, then I think we need to ask ourselves how we arrived in this situation.
Yusuf also announced that Reform UK would pass an equal treatment bill if they won the election, to “ban police race action plans, end DEI practices, and remove the exemption that allows Sikhs to carry large bladed weapons.”
11 officers and one dog injured during Nowak protest in Southampton, Hampshire chief constable says
Hampshire police have said 11 officers and one police dog were injured in the violent clashes last night between its officers and protesters near where Henry Nowak was stabbed to death in Southampton.
In a statement, the chief constable, Alexis Boon, said:
We understand and appreciate as police officers that we are accountable for our actions. What we ask, however, is that those actions are judged through fair and transparent processes. In this case, that process is already underway with the IOPC conducting their independent investigation.
What we, as a society, cannot accept is the violent scenes we saw in Southampton last night.
Some clearly arrived intent on causing disorder and trouble. We saw bottles thrown, makeshift weapons used, damage caused to the homes and vehicles of innocent residents and threats and violence directed towards our officers.
As a result, 11 officers and one police dog were injured, while trying to do their job to protect the communities that we serve.
While we are forced to deal with those determined to spark fear and division, our finite resources are taken away from those who need it most.
Boon said that, while two people have already been arrested, “that number will rise as those investigations continue”.
He added:
I know that since the release of the body-worn video footage from the night of Henry Nowak’s murder, there is a desire for answers and accountability but that must be done in the right way and not used as an excuse to threaten and intimidate my officers and bring violence to our streets causing fear and harm to those living and working in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.
Badenoch accuses Farage adopting Black Lives Matter approach 'in reverse', and says all identity politics wrong
Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, has a long record of criticising anti-racism initiatives in the police force. She was equalities minister in the last government and in that post she championed the controversial Sewell report, which played down the significance of, or even the existence of, structural racism and institutional racism. Badenoch essentially thinks that these are concepts that have been made up or exaggerated by leftwingers, and she was saying so before it became mainstream thinking in the Conservative party.
In recent days Badenoch has argued that the Henry Nowak tragedy vindicates her thinking. She has set this out in an article for the Daily Mail today.
In it, she essentially endorses one of the points Nigel Farage made in his “address” yesterday (see 8.41am) when she says Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner were happy to take the knee for George Floyd, but have not done the same for Nowak.
But she goes on to criticise Farage, claiming that he is just asking for the Black Lives Matter movement in reverse. She says:
Yes, a lot needs to be fixed. But Farage was completely wrong to say that the ‘rights and privileges of white people matter less than those of ethnic minorities’.
This is simply the language of the Black Lives Matter movement in reverse – inflaming tensions, emphasising difference. It is toxic tribal politics that divides our country.
The Conservative party rejects identity politics in its entirety. Every other party – Labour, Reform, the Greens, SNP and others – is pandering to people based on the toxic ideology of separatism. Anyone bandying around policies that are anti-English, Scottish and Welsh; separatist or anti-white; still doesn’t get – or doesn’t care – how dangerous these beliefs can be.
She says the murder of Stephen Lawrence, and the Macpherson report that followed it, led to racism being addressed. But she suggests this has gone too far and she argues that the Nowak murder must be a similar “seminal moment” when the UK changes course. She says:
We will have to sweep out a lot of the historic, incoherent nonsense that has been brought in under the guise of anti-racism.
Notions of ‘white privilege’ and forcing ‘decolonisation’ narratives down the throats of children is not how we build a cohesive society.
We also need to stop the idea that racism is something that happens only to ethnic minorities, perpetrated by white people. This seems to have been the belief of officers in the terrible case of Henry Nowak.
Public bodies must understand that anyone can be a victim of racism.
Yesterday Gavin Stephens, chair of the National Police Chiefs’ Council, said that, althought the NPCC would listen to concerns about how the anti-racism commitment was worded (see 9.29am), the overall intent behind was sound and justified. He said:
It is essential that we police without fear or favour in keeping the peace and enforcing the law. We must do so to earn the confidence of all communities.
This historic and ongoing mistrust between the police and black communities risks, for example, people not reporting things to the police if they are in trouble, or aiding our efforts to catch criminals, fight crime and protect all communities.
We are listening to legitimate concerns about how some of these commitments are worded or phrased, and where needed we can and will make changes, but this should not detract from the intent, which is to improve the quality of policing.
Jones says language in police anti-racism commitment 'wrong', and giving 'wrong impression'
In her interview on the Today programme, Sarah Jones, the policing minister, said the “police anti-racism commitment” was being reviewed (see 8.19am) because the language in it was “wrong”.
She said:
Everyone should be treated equally under the law and I think it’s right that they are reviewing this document and looking at the language.
This particular document is a values document, it’s quite a short document and I don’t think it forms the basis of any training or any police activity.
We think the language is wrong, it gives the wrong impression. But I don’t think it affects how our training is done.
Critics of the document like Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, seem to be particularly bothered by this passage in the document explaining what the commitment to racial equity (not equality) means.
Producing equality of policing outcomes for people from different ethnic groups by responding to individuals and communities according to their specific needs, circumstances and experiences, with understanding that these will be racialised and with the aim of reducing harm.
It does not mean treating everyone ‘the same’ or being ‘colour blind’ (racial equality).
Jones declines to say if officers involved in Nowak's arrest as he was dying still on frontline duty
In her Today interview, Jones refused to say if the police officers involved in the arrest of Henry Nowak as he was dying were still on duty.
She said the IOPC [Independent Office of Police Conduct] was dealing with that.
Asked if she knew the answer, she said she did. But she suggested it was not appropriate for her to say because this was a matter for the IOPC.
When it was put to her that it would not be appropriate for officers who displayed “a clear dereliction of duty” to still be on frontline duty, Jones repeated her point that this was a matter for the IOPC to rule on.
Asked if she would be happy for one of these officers to attend an incident, Jones said that as policing minister she had to let the IOPC do its job.
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Jones explains why she won't endorse 'two-tier policing' claims
In an interview on the Today programme, Sarah Jones, the policing minister, was also asked if she could confidently say there was no two-tier policing in the UK. She replied:
I would say that the principles are important, that everyone is equal under the law.
I would say that there are 100,000 999 calls a day and that in the majority of cases, the police are doing the right thing, making the right decisions in the right way.
But I would also say that wherever there are mistakes – and this is I think a case where the country is looking to us to make sure we learn the lessons and put anything wrong right – that we continue to strive to do that.
But the principles of what our policing by consent foundations are based on, equality under the law, that is the basis of our entire society.
Asked if there were examples of two-tier policing, she replied:
We see examples of people making the wrong call in different ways. In the main, that is not what we see.
To push a certain sort of agenda in this case is not helpful.
Asked if she thought “anti-white racism” was a factor in how Henry Nowak was treated by the officer who handcuffed him as he lay dying, Jones replied:
I look at that footage and as a mother I find it almost impossible to see. I think everybody does.
I think everybody can’t understand what the response was. I think everybody has a degree of anger about it because it looks so wrong.
But I think we have to step back and allow the IOPC [Independent Office of Police Conduct] to do its investigation
And this government’s commitment is that whatever the IOPC says, there will be consequences to that, there will be action from that.
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Jones rejects Farage's claim police don't treat white people fairly
Yesterday Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, delivered what he called an “emergency address to the nation” on YouTube at around this time. In it, he claimed that the Henry Nowak case was proof that white people were treated unfairly in the UK. He said that George Floyd (whom he described as a “career criminal”) died in policy custody in the US, there was a surge in support for the Black Lives Matter campaign, with Keir Starmer taking the knee. But nothing remotely similar has occurred after the death of Nowak, Farage claimed.
Silence, absolute silence, proof, if ever there was any, that we’re living in a two-tier culture in this country where the rights and privileges of white people matter less than those of ethnic minorities.
Saying that people should respond to Nowak’s death with “pure cold rage”, Farage went on:
Enough of anti-white prejudice, a promotion of the idea that white lives matter just as much as black lives. An end to DEI [diversity, equity and inclusion] and positive discrimination, but a country that treats everybody equally and fairly before the law.
This is serious. This is urgent. I fear for where our society would be in a few short years if we don’t grip this and do it very, very quickly.
Ben Quinn has a good analysis of Farage’s intervention here.
Ben points out that Farage was speaking at a time when Reform UK risking being outflanked on the right by Restore Britain, an even more exteme party founded by the former Reform UK MP Rupert Lowe.
In an interview on Sky News, Sarah Jones was asked if she agreed with Farage that white people were not treated fairly by the police. She replied:
I don’t think the evidence at the moment would suggest that, if you look at the facts and figures about policing.
I will always listen to the police in terms of what they’re saying and the home secretary said yesterday [that] we need to talk to the police. We need to talk to the Sikh community. We need to talk to knife crime campaigners. We need to understand what it is we need to do differently and better and we will do that.
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Last night Abimbola Johnson, a barrister who chairs the independent scrutiny and oversight board for the police Race Action Plan, told Radio 4’s the World Tonight last night that he thought Chris Philp’s criticism of the police anti-racism commitment (see 8.19am) was “disingenuous”. He claimed that when Philp was policing minister between 2022 and 2024 he did not express concerns about the police’s anti-racism approach.
Johnson said:
For [Philp] to take umbrage at the idea that there is a commitment to reduce disparities in arrest rates and use of force is disingenuous.
And I would also highlight that when the Conservative government were in power and Chris Philp was the policing minister, not once did he meet with the Race Action Plan, not once did he bring any legitimate concerns that he may have had around that and involve himself in any constructive conversations about it.
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Policing minister Sarah Jones calls for calm and says police should review anti-racism guidance
Good morning. Keir Starmer spoke for many people yesterday when he said that he felt “sick” watching the video of Henry Nowak being handcuffed as he lay dying, while a police officer who had been told Nowak had committed a racist assault ignored Nowak saying he had been stabbed. Starmer’s was a good faith response to the tragedy, which saw Nowak’s killer jailed for life on Monday.
But there have been plenty of bad faith responses to the murder too, which culminated in rioting in Southampton last night. Here is our overnight story about yesterday’s events.
And here is Steven Morris’s report on the rioting.
Sarah Jones, the policing minister, has been giving interviews this morning. Speaking to Times Radio, she said the rioting was unacceptable and she said there had been two arrests, “one for assault of a police officer, one for possession of a weapon”.
She also appealled for calm, saying:
We are urging that people take the anger that they feel, which I understand, but let’s allow justice to do its course, and let’s not over-react, which indeed is what the family are asking us to do as well.”
Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, issued her own statement last night.
In her interviews this morning, Jones also said the government wanted an official “police anti-racism commitment” reviewed. In the Commons yesterday Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, saying that this document was “morally wrong”, claiming that it “urges police forces to reverse engineer the same arrest rates between ethnic groups, even though the offending rates are different, by treating different ethnic groups differently”. (In fact it does not say that, although arguably that it what its call for “equality of policing outcomes for people from different ethnic groups” implies.) In the Commons Mahmood gave a non-committal response to Philp. But now the Home Office wants it reconsidered
Asked about the document, Jones told BBC Breakfast that the National Police Chiefs’ Council were reviewing the document. She went on:
We don’t think that language is is right.
It is right to say, and it is important to say, that there is … a long history of racism in policing that we need to acknowledge, and we need to make sure isn’t there.
Of course, in all the training that is done with police officers, it’s an aspect that they are trained on.
This document feels like it’s not right, and I think it’s right that the NPCC are reviewing it.
I will post more from her interviews shortly.
Here is the agenda for the day.
Noon: Keir Starmer faces Kemi Badenoch at PMQs.
After 12.30pm: MPs hold a debate on the Peter Mandelson files released on Monday.
2.30pm: Scientists and experts from the Climate Change Committee and other bodies give evidence to the Commons environmental audit committee on extreme weather.
3.30pm: Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, is speaking at at the Creating a Scientific Superpower Conference on the Oxford-Cambridge Growth Corridor.
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