Hate crimes prompt UK to review policing

London mayor seeks more powers to protect post-Brexit city

LONDON, July 26 (RTRS): Britain will order a review of how police deal with hate crimes after a sharp rise in offences reported following last month’s vote to leave the European Union.

Almost 6,200 hate crimes have been reported in Britain over the month since the June 23 referendum, which saw immigration become a key issue during a bitter and deeply divisive campaign.

The most common crimes were harassment, assault and other violence such as verbal abuse or spitting, with Muslims and Eastern Europeans saying they had been particularly targeted.

“Those who practise hatred send out a message that it’s ok to abuse and attack others because of their nationality, ethnicity or religious background,” interior minister Amber Rudd said in a statement ahead of the publication of a “Hate Crime Action Plan”.

“We will not stand for it. Hatred has no place whatsoever in a 21st century Great Britain that works for everyone,” she said. “Hatred does not get a seat at the table, and we will do everything we can to stamp it out.”

Critics of the “Leave” campaign say its focus on immigration helped stoke xenophobia and racism, an accusation its leaders reject.

Concerned

In the days following the referendum, the Polish embassy in London said it was deeply concerned about what it said were incidents of xenophobic abuse directed against the Polish community.

Rudd will announce plans to commission Britain’s independent overseer of police, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary, to review police understanding of hate crime and how forces respond to it, her office said.

The action plan will also set out plans to work with schools on tackling hatred and prejudice and ensuring better reporting of hate crime incidents, as well as looking at how to prevent hate crimes on public transport.

The government will provide 2.4 million pounds ($3.14 million) of funding to provide security measures and equipment for places of worship that need to have increased protection, following concerns from various religious communities over crimes from graffiti to arson attacks.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who is seeking more powers for the British capital to protect the city after Britons voted to leave the European Union, commissioned a study on Tuesday to draw up a list of devolution demands.

The June 23 vote to leave the EU is threatening to send Britain’s $2.4 trillion economy into a recession that would cast a long shadow over London, the centre of the country’s prosperity and home to its world-leading financial services industry.

Khan, a centre-left former Member of Parliament who was elected in May on a pro-business platform, said in a statement that he wanted more policy tools to make sure he could steer the capital’s economy effectively as Britain negotiates its EU exit.

Freedom

He did not elaborate but a previous study, published in 2013, recommended devolving property taxes and allowing London greater freedom to invest in infrastructure.

“London needs a stronger voice so that we can protect jobs and growth from the economic uncertainty ahead,” Khan said in a statement announcing a new ‘Finance Commission’ tasked with drawing up a “wideranging suite of devolution requests”.

Khan said he had already held preliminary talks with finance minister Philip Hammond on the subject, and that Hammond had indicated he was open to further devolution for London.

As mayor, Khan already oversees a budget of 17 billion pounds ($22 billion) with a remit that covers housing and transport, but he does not set policy for the financial sector or have full control over taxation, spending and borrowing.

“More than ever before, Londoners need their city’s government to be agile and to have the power to use taxation generated locally to promote economic growth,” said Tony Travers an academic who will lead the new finance commission and who chaired the previous study.

“Devolution would be good for London and would take pressure off the UK government at a time when it needs all its capacity to make Brexit work as well as possible,” he added.