Hate crimes ‘double’ to more than 100,000

The number of hate crimes reported to police has more than doubled over six years to 103,000.

Police in England and Wales logged a record 103,379 hate crimes in 2018/19, compared with 42,255 in 2012/13.

Over the last year, the number of offences rose 10% after a sharp increase in crimes concerning sexual orientation and transgender identity.

Transgender hate crime saw the biggest increase, by 37%, to 2,333, according to the Home Office figures.

Race is still the main cause of reported hate crimes, making up three-quarters (76%) of the total.

Disability hate crimes are also on the rise, up by 14% to 8,256, while offences triggered by religion rose three percent to 8,566.

Figures released last week showed violent hate crime against disabled people rose 41% in last year.

The increases are partly due to improvements in the way crimes are recorded, but events such as the EU referendum and the terrorist attacks in 2017, led to spikes in the number of reports.

Laura Russell, a director at the charity Stonewall, admitted the increase may be down to more confidence in reporting, but warned that lesbian, gay, bi and trans people still face hatred “simply because of who they are.

“These figures are still likely to only represent the tip of the iceberg,” she said.

“We are still not living in a society where every LGBT person is free to be themselves and live without fear of discrimination and abuse.”

The sister of Jo Cox, the Labour MP murdered by a far-right extremist a week before the EU referendum, called on MPs to change the language they use.

Kim Leadbeater told MPs on the home affairs committee she found it “very upsetting when we see some of the scenes that we have seen recently in parliament of bad behaviour again across the political spectrum”.

“The nature of our discourse in public life in parliament and elsewhere – that needs to change,” she said.

“The role of the media needs to be looked at. Until we start looking at influences in society, hate crime is not going to get any better,” she added.