Starmer accuses U.S. of ‘trying to interfere in our democracy’
Keir Starmer has suggested the US is trying to interfere in British democracy after JD Vance, the US vice-president, blamed the murder of the British teenager Henry Nowak on mass migration.
The prime minister’s office responded after the senior Republican politician claimed in a post on X that Nowak would be alive “if the last few generations of European elites had stood their ground against the politics of self-hatred and the mass invasion of migrants, many of whom despise the West and the people who love it”.
Downing Street did not name Vance directly but said its response to his comments was that “in recent days we have seen people 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,” a spokesperson said.
“Our politics should bring people together even in the most terrible of circumstances. That is who we are as a country.”
There has been a national outcry about Nowak’s murder as footage showed police officers handcuffed him as he lay dying from stab wounds after his killer, Vickrum Digwa, had falsely accused him of racist abuse. Digwa, a British-born Sikh, was ultimately convicted of murder and jailed for life with a minimum of 21 years.
Nowak’s family, who met Starmer on Thursday, asked that his death not be used to create further division, hatred or tension. But since the conviction, rightwing US figures have made several remarks about the case. The US state department, run by Marco Rubio, portrayed the case as an example of the UK’s “civilisational decline”.
In a post on X, the department said: “Ideological conditioning and two-tiered policing are glaring symptoms of civilizational decline. They must be rejected across the West. The United States sends our condolences to the family of Henry Nowak and the people of the United Kingdom at this troubling time.” [Continue reading…]