Minister criticises anti-discrimination guidance to police amid Southampton protests | Police
Anti-discrimination instructions to police that black and white suspects should be treated differently “gives the wrong impression”, according to the policing minister, who said protesters involved in violence overnight in Southampton should not be allowed to shape the response to the murder of Henry Nowak.
Following the stabbing incident in the city on December 3, 2025, Vickrum Digwa, the murderer of the 18-year-old young man who told the police who went to the scene that he had been subjected to a racist attack, was arrested after the chaos that broke out in Southampton.
Far-right activist Tommy Robinson was among the speakers who addressed the crowd at the “Justice for Henry Nowak” protest outside Southampton central police station. Nowak’s family was not involved and said they did not want her death “to be used to fuel division or hostility.”
Police minister Sarah Jones condemned the violence, but anti-discrimination and anti-racism training in police forces is also now under pressure from Reform UK and the Conservatives.
The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) announced it would review anti-racism guidance, which advised police to treat ethnic minorities differently to achieve better outcomes, which some blamed for the actions of the officers who arrested Nowak.
Nick Timothy, the shadow justice secretary, said in an interview on BBC Breakfast on Wednesday: “Our law enforcement and criminal justice system is being corrupted by political correctness and left-wing ideology.”
Jones dismissed Timothy’s comments, but Timothy confirmed his review of the NPCC’s guidance and said the government did not believe the language was accurate.
NPCC says anti-racism commitment that it aims for “equality of control of outcomes for people from different ethnic groups, responding to individuals and communities according to their specific needs, circumstances and experiences” and that this does not mean treating everyone the same or being colour-blind.
Jones told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “We think the language is wrong and gives the wrong impression. I don’t think it will affect the course of our education, but people are right to ask questions when they see such a horrific incident.”
On Times Radio, Jones said: “Everyone should be equal before the law and we must ensure that is the case,” adding: “We cannot avoid historical and legitimate concerns about racism within police forces.”
There are concerns that forces on the right are using the circumstances of Nowak’s death to lay the groundwork for a rollback of changes in policing practices and culture that have been enacted in the decades since the Macpherson report, the landmark judicial inquiry into the racist murder of black London teenager Stephen Lawrence.
Reform UK has pressed on following Nigel Farage’s intervention on Tuesday, when he said the response to Nowak’s murder should be “pure cold anger”.
The party released a document overnight pledging to introduce an “equal treatment bill” within the first 100 days of entering government that would ban police race action plans, scrap diversity, equality and inclusion practices and end the exemption for Sikhs to carry large knives.
Reform’s home affairs spokesperson Zia Yusuf claimed Nowak’s death was a “direct result” of police initiatives such as the Hampshire and Isle of Wight police racing action plan.
NPCC chief executive Gavin Stephens said: “We are listening to legitimate concerns about how some of these commitments have been worded or worded and that we can and will make changes where necessary, but this should not overshadow the intention to improve the quality of policing.”
Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch said “harmful identity politics” was causing the country to “go backwards”.
In an article in the Daily Mail, he said it was necessary to “dismantle a lot of the historical, incoherent nonsense put forward under the guise of anti-racism”.
