Soaring hate crime figures blamed on ‘political atmosphere’

THE number of hate crimes recorded by West Midlands Police has shot up – with the force now handling 15 offences every day.

New figures published by the Home Office show there were 5,715 hate crimes recorded by in the West Midlands Police area in the 2018-19 financial year. That was up from 4,678 offences the previous year – an increase of 22 per cent.

It is not possible to be certain how much of the increase is due to people being more willing to report hate crimes, and police forces have worked hard to ensure victims feel confident about coming forward.

The increase in the West Midlands follows the national trend, as hate crime has risen across the country.

It sparked debate about what is to blame, with Liberal Democrats claiming a “toxic political atmosphere” was responsible.

The Home Office report on the figures said: “While increases in hate crime over the last five years have been mainly driven by improvements in crime recording by the police, there has been spikes in hate crime following certain events such as the EU Referendum and the terrorist attacks in 2017.”

Last year in the West Midlands, 4,811 crimes were classed as racially motivated. There were 540 crimes where sexual orientation was a factor and 296 where religion was a factor. In 132 crimes, disability was a factor. There were another 72 crimes targeting transgender people.

Jay Singh-Sohal, Conservative candidate for the post of West Midlands Police and Crime Commission, said: “It’s shocking to see that hate crime has not just increased over the past year in the West Midlands – but has shot up by 37% since 2015-16. Hatred towards people who are different because of their race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation or disability has no place in our modern society. So I welcome the initiatives of Mayor Andy Street to provide additional focus on it.”