Lammy says Sikhs’ blade ‘privilege can be taken away’ after Henry Nowak death

Justice Secretary David Lammy has said Sikhs are granted a ‘privilege’ to carry a blade as part of their faith – but this can be ‘taken away’ if necessary for public safety.

Many Amritdhari Sikhs carry a knife called a kirpan, one of a group of items known as the ‘Five Ks’ that must be kept upon them at all times.

This practice has come under the spotlight in the past week, since Henry Nowak’s killer Vickrum Digwa claimed he was carrying the blade used in the murder for religious reasons.

Digwa’s assertion has been met with indignation from the British Sikh community, with the Sikh Federation saying the weapon was not a kirpan.

Labour MP Tan Dhesi, a Sikh, wrote in the Telegraph on Tuesday: ‘Sikhs are strictly instructed by their faith to never misuse a kirpan and understand that carrying one comes with a huge responsibility.’

However, calls to ban the blade have grown since the end of Digwa’s trial, with Reform UK and Rupert Lowe’s far-right party Restore saying they would do so.

In an interview on Sky News this morning, Lammy said there is ‘doubt as to whether this was religious’ and that it is illegal in the UK to carry a blade for any reason which is used to harm life.

But he went on to compare the ‘privilege’ of carrying such an item to the previous ability of the public to walk up the street to No 10 and watch from the public gallery of the House of Commons without glass in the way.

Lammy – who also serves as Deputy Prime Minister – said: ‘Because of very poor behaviour, those privileges were withdrawn.’

Many Scottish people also carry a small blade named a sgian dubh in their kilt sock as part of traditional dress, and there are questions over whether such a ban would also affect this practice.

The Justice Secretary said: ‘Right across the country, Sikhs, Scots, for ceremonial purposes, cultural purposes, carrying relatively small blades goes on peacefully every single day of the week, and we should remember that.

‘But it is a privilege, and wherever there’s a privilege, that can be taken away if it doesn’t command the full confidence of the public.’

Elsewhere in the interview, Lammy said the video of Henry Nowak’s final moments – in which he is handcuffed by police who do not believe his repeated claims he has been stabbed – was ‘deeply traumatic’.

He said the video ‘brought back memories of George Floyd and Stephen Lawrence’, both black men whose deaths led to high-profile reckonings over police conduct.

Reform leader Nigel Farage has claimed the teenager’s death was a result of ‘anti-white prejudice’, saying Digwa’s claims of racism were prioritised by police over his victim’s claims he had been stabbed.

In an appearance on Laura Kuenssberg’s BBC show this morning, Reform home affairs spokesman Zia Yusuf said the police is ‘institutionally racist’, citing documents which appear to suggest treating people of different backgrounds differently.

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