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Hate crime hit a record high last year

HATE crime hit a record high last year, with a surge in the number of transphobic offences reported, official figures show.

Police in England and Wales recorded 103,379 hate crimes in 2018-19, an increase of 10 per cent on the previous year.

The figure is also more than double that from six years ago in 2012-13, when there were 42,255 reported incidents.

Hate crimes related to transgender identity showed the largest increase, up 37 per cent in the last year from 1,703 to 2,333.

However, race remained the main trigger in most reported incidents at 76 per cent of the total, an 11 per cent rise in the last year from 71,264 to 78,991.

As for disability hate crimes, the number reported rose by 14 per cent from 7,221 to 8,256.

Shadow home secretary Diane Abbott said: “It’s a shocking indictment of this government that all types of recorded hate crime have at least doubled under the Tories.

“The rise in some categories of hate crime is even worse.
 
“It was the Tories who cut the police and let down whole communities.

“But it has also been the incendiary words of politicians which have created a toxic atmosphere, including the Prime Minister whose comments comparing Muslim women to ‘bank robbers’ and ‘letterboxes’ took place while Islamophobic hate crime is rising.

“Ministers should accept that they bear a major responsibility for these terrible trends.”

The figures show an unexplained spike in reports in the summer of 2018 and January this year, but Home Office admitted that part of the increase could reflect a “real rise” in hate crime.

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