London\u00a0\u2014\u00a0\n <\/p>\n
\n UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has hit out at people \u201ctrying to interfere in our democracy\u201d after US Vice President JD Vance waded into a national controversy by blaming \u201cmass migration\u201d for the recent murder of a student<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n \n The killing of Henry Nowak<\/a>, an 18-year-old White student, sparked a national outcry after it emerged that police<\/a> officers had handcuffed him as he lay dying from stab wounds inflicted by Vickrum Digwa, a 23-year-old Sikh man, in an attack late last year.\n <\/p>\n \n Digwa, who at the time falsely claimed to police that he had been the victim of a racist attack, has since been convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison, but the case has been co-opted by the far-right to accuse British institutions including the police of being biased against White Britons.\n <\/p>\n \n Vance joined the debate on Friday, pointing to the failure to stop the \u201cflow of mass migration\u201d as the reason for Nowak\u2019s death.\n <\/p>\n \n The student would still be alive, Vance wrote in a post on X, if \u201cthe last few generations of European elites had stood their ground against the politics of self-hatred and the mass invasion of migrants.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Soon after Vance\u2019s comment a spokesperson for Starmer warned against people who are \u201ctrying to interfere in our democracy and seeking to stir up division on our streets.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n The Downing Street statement, which did not mention Vance directly, continued, \u201cThe Nowak family are grieving after Henry\u2019s 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.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n The exchange came a day after the US Department of State sent condolences to Nowak\u2019s family in a post on X, in which it appeared to suggest \u201ctwo-tiered policing\u201d had played a role in the incident, echoing a key talking point among right-wing figures that claims police officers have become so fearful of being accused of racism that ethnic minorities are given greater protection.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cIdeological conditioning and two-tiered policing are glaring symptoms of civilizational decline. They must be rejected across the West,\u201d it said.\n <\/p>\n \n Downing Street pushed back on the claim, with the Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy saying \u201cmistakes can happen in any public service,\u201d that investigations are rightly ongoing and that the \u201csystem is working.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWe don\u2019t recognise the characterisation of two-tiered policing,\u201d he said.\n <\/p>\n