Tory leader says recent attacks could have been stopped if officials didn't fear being called racist

By JASON GROVES, POLITICAL EDITOR Published: 00:04, 10 June 2026 | Updated: 00:04, 10 June 2026 Labour's woke equality laws have contributed to some of Britain's most notorious recent killings, Kemi Badenoch said yesterday. The Conservative leader said the Southport attack, the Nottingham murders and the Manchester Arena bombings 'could have been stopped' if officials had not been cowed by equality laws. In each case, she said, those in authority failed to intervene for 'fear of being called racist'. Mrs Badenoch said a future Tory government would scrap the 'public sector equality duty' which has been blamed for the spread of identity politics throughout the public sector. Unveiling the policy in a speech in London, she said: 'What do the Nottingham murders, the Southport attack, the Manchester Arena bombings and the rape gangs all have in common? 'All these crimes could have been stopped if people had intervened instead of having a fear of being called racist. 'We would not have had so many girls abused by rape gangs if local authorities had not looked away because they were too scared to point out the obvious. If the security guards at the Manchester Arena weren't afraid of being accused of racial profiling, we wouldn't have seen a bomber walk into the venue unchecked. 'If authorities weren't concerned that black people were over-represented in mental health units, three people would not have been murdered in Nottingham by a man who should have been detained under the mental health act. 'And if authorities hadn't chalked up Axel Rudakubana's violent behaviour to autism, if his headteacher hadn't been accused of racial stereotyping when she raised concerns about him bringing a knife into school, three little girls might still be with us. 'These families are all living a life sentence, because others were too scared to raise the alarm.' Kemi Badenoch said woke equality laws have contributed to some of Britain's most notorious recent killings The Conservative leader said recent attacks 'could have been stopped' if officials had not been cowed by equality laws Mrs Badenoch, a former equalities minister, also cited the murder of Henry Nowak, which has triggered an outpouring of public anger this month. The Southampton teenager was stabbed to death by a Sikh man who falsely claimed he was the victim of racism. Shocking bodycam footage showed that police officers initially ignored his plea for help and instead handcuffed him, reading him his rights while he lay dying. His killer Vickrum Digwa was jailed for life for his murder last week. Mrs Badenoch said public institutions such as the police and local authorities had 'spent so long worrying about institutional racism that they have become institutionally incompetent'. The Tory leader described modern Britain as 'the least racist country in the world'. But she said equality legislation had been hijacked by Left-wing activists to push their own agendas. The public sector equality duty is a central plank of Labour's controversial Equality Act. It requires public bodies to consider how they impact on people with protected characteristics such as race and gender. Critics say it has been used to drive through divisive diversity initiatives. Mrs Badenoch said the changes had undermined the ancient principle that everyone is equal before the law. 'There is a reason Lady Justice is blindfolded,' she said. 'The idea that each person should be treated the same regardless of who they are, is a value so deeply ingrained in our culture that most people in Britain accept it as a self-evident truth. 'But while we have been going about our business, activists have been taking Lady Justice's blindfold off. They want the law to treat people differently on the basis of identity groups.' Mrs Badenoch said equality laws 'should be a shield, not a sword'. Reform UK has said that it will repeal the Equality Act in its entirety. But Mrs Badenoch warned that this could lead to a blizzard of discrimination. No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.