It comes despite England and Wales seeing a dramatic rise in religious hate crime offences. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper lambasted the "appalling levels" of antisemitic and Islamophobic hate crimes, and said the Government will "work tirelessly to tackle this toxic hatred". Home Office figures show Thames Valley Police recorded 125 religious hate crime offences in the year to March – down significantly from 257 the year before. Nationally, religious hate crime offences rose by 25 per cent to a record 10,484 reported incidents. It showed antisemitic hate crime peaked in October 2023 with 577 offences, while October to March saw more than triple the number of offences as between April 2023 and September 2023.

Source: The Herald October 13, 2024 16:09 UTC