Policing Minister Sarah Jones Calls for Calm and Police Guidance Review
Good morning. Keir Starmer expressed a sentiment shared by many when he commented on the distressing footage of Henry Nowak being handcuffed while dying. Despite Nowak informing a police officer that he had been stabbed, the officer, who had been told Nowak had committed a racist assault, did not respond appropriately. Starmer’s remarks were a sincere response to this tragic event, which resulted in Nowak’s death.
However, there have also been responses of a less constructive nature, culminating in rioting in Southampton last night. Our overnight coverage details yesterday’s events, and Steven Morris provides a report on the rioting.
Sarah Jones, the policing minister, gave interviews this morning. Speaking to Times Radio, she condemned the rioting as unacceptable and confirmed two arrests had been made: one for assaulting a police officer and another for possession of a weapon.
"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."
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood also issued statements this morning.
Jones further stated that the government intends to review an official document concerning police anti-racism guidance. In the Commons yesterday, Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, criticized the document as "morally wrong," alleging 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." While the document does not explicitly state this, its call for "equality of policing outcomes for people from different ethnic groups" implies such an approach. Mahmood gave a non-committal response to Philp in the Commons, but the Home Office now seeks to reconsider the document.
When asked about the document, Jones told BBC Breakfast that the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) is reviewing it. She said:
"We don’t think that language 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."
More from her interviews will be posted shortly.
Here is the agenda for the day:
- Noon: Keir Starmer faces questions 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, speaks at the Creating a Scientific Superpower Conference on the Oxford-Cambridge Growth Corridor.
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Jones Explains Why She Won't Endorse 'Two-Tier Policing' Claims
In an interview on the Today programme, Sarah Jones was 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."
When asked if there were examples of two-tier policing, she said:
"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 responded:
"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 IPCC says, there will be consequences to that, there will be action from that."
Jones Rejects Farage's Claim Police Don't Treat White People Fairly
Yesterday, Nigel Farage, leader of Reform UK, delivered what he called an "emergency address to the nation" on YouTube. In it, he claimed the Henry Nowak case demonstrated that white people were treated unfairly in the UK. He referenced George Floyd, whom he described as a "career criminal," who died in police custody in the US, noting the surge in support for the Black Lives Matter campaign and Keir Starmer taking the knee. Farage contrasted this with what he described as a lack of similar response following Nowak’s death.
"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."
He urged people to respond to Nowak’s death with "pure cold rage" and said:
"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 provides an analysis of Farage’s intervention, noting that Farage spoke at a time when Reform UK risks being outflanked on the right by Restore Britain, an even more extreme party founded by a former Reform UK MP.
In response, Sarah Jones was asked if she agreed with Farage’s claim that white people were not treated fairly by the police. She said:
"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."
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 that he considered Chris Philp’s criticism of the police anti-racism commitment to be "disingenuous." Johnson noted that when Philp was policing minister from 2022 to 2024, he never raised concerns with the plan.
"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."
