Stephen Lawrence’s mother has urged politicians not to halt progress made on racial equality in the UK following the murder of Henry Nowak.
Baroness Doreen Lawrence of Clarendon shared her condolences with the family of Mr Nowak, 18, who was stabbed and later handcuffed by officers as he lay dying in Southampton on December 3, 2025.
Mr Nowak’s killer, Vickrum Digwa, 23, told police attending the scene of the stabbing that he had been the victim of a racist attack.
The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) has announced it will review anti-racism guidance.
The guidance currently establishes a “commitment to racial equity” and notes this “does not mean treating everyone ‘the same’ or being ‘colour blind’”.
In the House of Lords, former Metropolitan Police officer Lord Davies of Gower said “all instances of identity politics must be consigned to the dustbin of history”.
The Conservative shadow Home Office minister asked whether the Government would be “scrapping the police anti-racism commitment and all similar ideology-motivated equality, diversity and inclusion policies”.
Conservative former MP Baroness Cash said Mr Nowak’s murder had raised “issues about the conduct of the police and their paranoia on the ground”, calling for “a proper review of police training”.
Home Office minister Lord Hanson of Flint replied: “I know that the (National) Police Chiefs’ Council and the Government will reflect on the issue of training.
“But I’ll just say that the police still have a sacred duty to police without fear or favour.
“Everyone in this country is equal before the law and it is the promise on which our justice system rests.
“The equality of the citizen is the foundation of that policing and we will look at the lessons to be learned. It’s not an empty phrase.”
Lady Lawrence, a Labour peer, said: “My condolence goes out to Henry Nowak’s family.
“I think what’s happened with him should never have happened.
“And the police should be at fault for what happened on that night.”
She referred to comments made by Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch in the Daily Mail newspaper, that “Henry’s murder and the police’s botched response must be a seminal moment for Britain on a par with the murder of Stephen Lawrence”.
After 18-year-old Mr Lawrence was murdered in a racist attack in 1993, an inquiry found “institutional racism” in the Metropolitan Police and other forces.
“It is incumbent upon every institution to examine their policies and the outcome of their policies and practices to guard against disadvantaging any section of our communities,” the review by Sir William Macpherson found.
Mrs Badenoch on Wednesday wrote: “Many battles have been won in making our society better and fairer since then.
“Yet now we are going backwards – because of a pernicious identity politics amplified in 2020 by the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, sparked by the death of George Floyd in Minnesota while being restrained by a white police officer.”
Lady Lawrence said: “Now, when my son was murdered, there was nobody standing up and asking for judgment to happen for him. And the mere fact that the leader of the Opposition in the Other Place can use my son’s name in referring to reform – it took 20 years and more for anybody to understand the murder of my son and to have anybody convicted.”
Reflecting on Wednesday’s debate in the upper chamber, she said many peers had “no idea what race equality means”.
She added: “I think to be in here and you stand in a position of power that you can say that you want to change and go back to what it was before – for me, what we’ve moved on to is a much better equality for all in this country.”
Lord Hanson replied: “I believe that we need to maintain and retain equality, diversity, and an understanding of the impact of those challenges in the police.
“But that doesn’t say we can’t learn lessons about what happened in this instance.”
Digwa was given a life sentence with a minimum of 21 years in prison for stabbing Mr Nowak with a ceremonial knife with a 21cm blade that prosecutors said was a kirpan, which he carried as part of his Sikh religion.
