Keir Starmer condemned Nigel Farage for his comments calling for “pure, cold rage” in the wake of Henry Nowak’s murder.
On Tuesday morning, the Reform UK leader claimed Nowak’s death was evidence of a “two-tier culture” in Britain where white people’s rights “matter less than those of ethnic minorities.”
He went on to call on people to respond to the incident with “pure, cold rage.”
By Tuesday evening, there were violent protests in Southampton over the police’s actions in Nowak’s death.
In his opening remarks addressing the demonstration in Southampton, Starmer said now was a time for “serious work, not rage.”
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Later in the session, Farage stood up to ask a question to the PM claiming there was “two-tier policing” in the UK.
Ignoring shouts from across the house for the Clacton MP to condemn the violence in Southampton – which he is accused of inciting – Farage asked Starmer whether he can “end this divisive practice of two-tier policing.”
In response, the PM dismissed claims of two-tier policing before reminding Farage about Nowak’s family’s calls for his death not to be used to create hatred and division.
He accused Farage of ‘pretending to have respect’ for Nowak’s family.
“The grieving family have asked us not to respond in the way that the leader of Reform has responded,” Starmer said.
“His response has been to appeal for rage, rage. That’s his response to a father who has lost his son and asked for that not to happen.
“Exploiting this tragedy to create grievance and division would be wrong in any circumstance, but to do it when the family are expressly saying ‘please don’t’ is unforgivable.”
He said Farage’s decision to ignore this with his comments “shows exactly who he is.”