Labour MP says Restore and Reform have ‘decided to scapegoat and throw under the bus an entire community’

Labour MP Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi has slammed Reform and Restore Britain for ‘scapegoating and throwing under the bus an entire community’ following the horrific murder of Henry Nowak.

18-year-old Nowak was stabbed to death by Vickrum Digwa, 23, in Southampton in December last year whilst he was walking home alone after a night out.

Digwa told police that Nowak had attacked him and removed his turban. The court found that Digwa lied.

Nowak was handcuffed by police as he said he couldn’t breathe and that he had been stabbed. A police officer is heard asking him where he had been stabbed and then saying: “I don’t think you have mate”.

Hampshire police has apologised and the force’s Police and Crime Commissioner Donna Jones described the incident as a “national tragedy”.

The likes of Nigel Farage of Reform UK and Rupert Lowe of Restore Britain have been accused of exploiting the tragedy after the former gave an ‘address to the nation’ in which he claimed “the rights and privileges of white people matter less than those of ethnic minorities”, while the latter blamed ‘foreign cultures’.

Speaking in Parliament, Dhesi, who is Sikh, criticised Farage and Lowe for throwing under the bus an entire community.

Dhesi said he was deeply saddened by the murder of Henry Nowak and sent his condolences to his family whose pain was made worse by the actions of the police.

He went on to add: “What’s very galling is that the likes of Reform, Restore and the far-right decided to politicise people’s pain, attacking the Sikh community for wearing the kirpan and wanting it banned even though the kirpan was not used in this violent attack.

“They’ve decided to scapegoat and throw under the bus an entire community based on the actions of one violent murderer.”

Dhesi went on to highlight the contributions of hundreds of thousands of Sikh soldiers in fighting alongside British soldiers in both world wars and asked the Home Secretary for reassurances for the Sikh community who he said were concerned about the rhetoric used by the far-right.