Hate crime in UK has risen since the referendum – police

RECORD levels of hate crime were seen by three in four police forces in the aftermath of the EU referendum, an investigation has found.

Following the momentous vote to leave the European Union last June, 75 per cent of constabularies recorded the highest reports of racially or religiously aggravated crimes since figures were first collected in 2012.

It fuelled concerns that far-Right yobs used Brexit as an excuse to legitimise prejudice and hate-filled attacks.

However, police chiefs have warned that it was impossible to determine how many of these recorded incidents were linked to last summer’s referendum.

The figures have provided the first complete picture of hate crime recorded by police in England and Wales after the United Kingdom went to the polls on June 23.

Statistics show that 33 out of 44 forces recorded the highest quarterly number of incidents since comparable records began.

Three forces each recorded more than 1,000 hate crimes over the period: the Metropolitan Police (3,356), Greater Manchester (1,033) and West Yorkshire (1,013), while only four constabularies reported a decrease.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) said the findings suggested that a small number of people used the Brexit vote ‘to legitimise inexcusable racism and prejudice’ .

The charity Victim Support said that more needed to be done to encourage victims to come forward an report such incidents. Pro- visional figures on hate crimes published by the Home Office in October 2016 suggested that offences in July 2016 were 41 per cent higher than in July 2015.

The new analysis, compiled by the Press Association news agency, shows that a rise in incidents was seen in almost every force in England and Wales, both year-on-year and when comparing the three months either side of the referendum.

David Isaac, chairman of the EHRC, said it ‘must be sensible to prepare for any possible spikes’ in hate crime once Brexit negotiations got under way.

He said: ‘The vast majority of people who voted to leave the European Union did so because they believed it was best for Britain and not because they are intolerant of others. It is clear, however, that a small minority of people used the Brexit vote to legitimise inexcusable racism and prejudice.

‘We cannot allow such intolerable acts of hate to be condoned or repeated.

‘The triggering of Article 50 is the next major milestone and we must do all we can to discourage hate attacks and to support people who feel at risk.’

Lucy Hastings, director at Victim Support, said: ‘Hate crime has no place in our society and every victim of this crime is one too many. We believe that more needs to be done to further encourage reporting.

‘This includes making third-party hate crime units more accessible to the public.’

The figures for hate crimes were compiled from open data published by every police force in England and Wales.

Comparable data is not available for Scotland and Northern Ireland.