Rise in race hate crime around Brexit vote

Northumbria Police are having to deal with more racist hate crimes, followingariseinoffencesaround the EU referendum, figures show.

The latest Home Office data shows an increase in the number hate crimes reported to the police, where race is the motivating factor, during the year of the vote.

In the 2016-17 financial year, 1,609 incidents were recorded by Northumbria Police, where someone was abused or attacked due to their race. The referendum was in June 2016.

That is a 54% increase on the previous year, when 1,043 cases were recorded.

A Home Office report states that, while the police have improved their recording methods, “part of the increase is due to a genuine increase in hate crime, particularly around the time of the EU Referendum”.

Rose Simkins, chief executive of Stop Hate UK, said it was “now an indisputable fact” that racist incidents have risen since the Brexit vote.

She explained: “Our own figures, from the period 201617, also support this trend where, after several years of disability being the biggest motivating factor, there was a clear shift towards race being the biggest factor.

“Also, after the referendum, many more people reported suffering hate for the first time, as deep-rooted prejudices surfaced and manifested themselves as abuse and threats to innocent members of the public.”

The figures also show a rise in Islamophobic and anti-Semitic hate crime, where religion was a motivating factor.

Northumbria Police recorded 161 cases in 2016-17, 82 more than the previous year.

Ms Simkins commented that while reporting and recording of hate crime has improved, she still believes there is a large disparity between the actual number of incidents and the number reported to the police.