Racist
or religious abuse incidents recorded by police in England and Wales jumped 41%
in the month after the UK voted to quit the EU, figures
show.
There
were 3,886 such crimes logged in July 2015, rising to 5,468 in July this year,
according to the Home Office.
It
said the sharp increase declined in August but has “remained at a higher
level than prior to the EU referendum”.
Home
Secretary Amber Rudd said the government was “determined to stamp it
out”.
The
number of hate crimes overall in the year 2015-16 was up 19% on the previous
year.
Latest
figures show that 62,518 offences were recorded by police.
Of
these, 79% were motivated by race hate, 12% by sexual orientation, 7% by
religion, 6% by disability and 1% were transgender hate crimes.
