Zia Yusuf swipes at Tories for 'injecting DEI into the veins of Britain' after Henry Nowak murder

Zia Yusuf has launched a scathing attack on the Conservatives for their "unforgivable injection of DEI (Diversity, Equality and Inclusion)" into Britain.

Speaking to GB News, the Reform UK Home Affairs spokesman vowed to "abolish the Race Action Plan" currently imposed on officers with the party's new Equal Treatment Act.

It follows the murder of 18-year-old student Henry Nowak, who was stabbed multiple times by Vickrum Digwa, 23, in Southampton during an altercation on his way home from a night out.

Police bodycam footage shows the student's dying moments, in which he was being handcuffed, shortly after officers listened to Digwa falsely claim he had been the victim of a racist attack.

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After watching the harrowing footage, Mr Yusuf said the incident underlines the need to revamp equality policies in police forces across the country, which he believes were mostly introduced during the Tories' lengthy spell in power.

He explained: "Go to Hampshire Police's website and look at their Race Action Plan. What it does is train police forces like Hampshire police to prioritise 'harms to ethnic minority communities', and that is precisely why the attending officers at the scene, when they saw poor Henry bleeding out and Henry kept saying he'd been stabbed, prioritised an accusation of racism over an accusation of being stabbed.

"That race action plan was brought into force under the last Tory Government, and it is insidious because what it does is it creates obvious two-tier policing, it creates a structural anti-white prejudice."

Mr Yusuf made clear that under a Reform Government, "everyone is equal before the law".

He stated: "We would also end the religious exemption that allows some religions to carry deadly weapons. I don't care how ceremonial your dagger is - if you're not law enforcement, under a Reform Government you will not get to carry deadly weapons on our streets, full stop."

Criticising Tory leader Kemi Badenoch for accusing Reform UK leader Nigel Farage of "whipping up division" with his response to Henry Nowak's murder, Mr Yusuf declared that "no matter what the Tories say now, they injected DEI into the institutions of this country".

He told GB News: "I would just point out that whatever the Tories might say now, the fact that DEI was injected into the veins of the great institutions of this country by the Tories can never be forgiven.

"I will die on this hill, it is obvious that if you can bring yourself to watch the footage again, you will see the conduct of those officers is the logical conclusion of training them with 'prioritising harms to ethnic minority communities'.

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"And I'm afraid for Kemi Badenoch to come out, just not just her, Keir Starmer, the Home Secretary, almost everybody you can find in British politics that isn't Reform, decided to watch that body cam footage and react by attacking Nigel Farage for reflecting the views of millions of right thinking people in this country."

Pressed by host Alex Armstrong on Mr Farage's "cold rage" towards the murder of Mr Nowak, Mr Yusuf argued that it is "staggering" for someone to "not feel anger" if they have watched the body cam footage from the incident.

Mr Yusuf made clear: "I find this whole thing just staggering. If you can watch footage of a 18-year-old bleeding to death saying, 'I've been stabbed' and 'I can't breathe', and then seeing the police handcuff him and say 'I don't think you have, mate'.

"The last words Henry heard on this earth was his rights being read to him, having handcuffs being put on his hands as he bled to death. I don't know how you can respond with anything other than anger."

Highlighting the policy announced by Reform overnight, Mr Yusuf said: "How do we harness and channel that anger? Well, it's through making the changes that, by the way, can only be made politically.

"So these Race Action Plans are, again, what you saw in that footage. This was not some aberration, that is the logical conclusion of things like the Race Action Plan.

"My view is you should be angry. Nigel is angry, we're angry.

"The way to channel the anger is to make political change in this country, so that there is one law for everyone, regardless of your race, regardless of your religion."

In a statement, a spokesman for the Independent Office for Police Conduct said: "As part of our ongoing investigation, we are reviewing a large amount of police body-worn footage which we need to consider the context with other evidence that we've obtained, including review material presented during the murder trial as we establish the full circumstances.

"The officers involved are currently being treated as witnesses. However, as with all investigations, this is kept under review throughout."

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