UK deputy prime minister rebukes US VP over migration claim

A senior British official has directly challenged U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance over his comments linking the murder of a British student to mass migration, escalating a diplomatic dispute between the two allies. Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy stated he told Vance he was wrong during a phone call on Saturday.

The controversy stems from Vance’s social media post on Friday regarding the death of 18-year-old Henry Nowak. Nowak, an accounting and finance student, was fatally stabbed in Southampton on December 3, 2025, by Vickrum Digwa. Digwa, 23, was sentenced to life in prison this week with a minimum term of 21 years. When police arrived, Digwa, who carried the knife as part of his Sikh faith, falsely claimed he was the victim of a racist attack by Nowak.

Body camera footage released this week showed officers handcuffing Nowak as he lay dying, despite his pleas that he had been stabbed and could not breathe. He died shortly afterward. The footage prompted protests in Southampton on Tuesday, during which eleven police officers and one police dog were injured. Two people were arrested.

In his post, Vance wrote that Nowak died "the same way a civilization dies — abandoned,...