Religiously-motivated hate crime at record level

Religious hate crime recorded by police in England and Wales has reached a record high, new figures have shown.

There were 7,164 such offences recorded by forces across the two nations - excluding the Metropolitan Police - in the year to March, a rise of 3% from 6,973 in the previous 12 months. This is the highest annual total of these offences recorded, the Home Office said.

Not including the Met Police, hate crimes targeted at Muslims rose by almost a fifth from 2,690 to 3,199, with the Home Office noting a "clear spike" in these offences in August 2024, which coincides with the Southport murders and riots that followed last summer. While there was a drop by 18% in the number of religious hate crimes targeted at Jewish people, the department cautioned that the overall figures exclude those recorded by the UK's largest police force, the Met Police, because of a change in their crime recording system.

The Home Office said the Met recorded 40% of all religious hate crimes targeted at Jewish people in the last year. There were 137,550 hate crimes recorded by the police in England and Wales, including the Met, but the change in recording means this is not directly comparable year-on-year.

Overall, excluding the Met, there were 115,990 hate crime offences recorded by police across the two nations in the year ending March 2025. This is an increase of 2% from 113,166 for the previous 12 months.

In the years since the COVID pandemic, the total number of police-recorded hate crimes peaked at 128,485 in the year to March 2022 but overall numbers had been falling in the years since. The latest figures show decreases in hate crimes based on sexual orientation, down 2% to 18,702 from 19,127, and disability hate crimes, which decreased by 8% from 11,131 to 10,224.

There was also a fall in transgender hate crimes by 11% from 4,258 to 3,809, the second consecutive annual fall. Read more from Sky News:Synagogue attacker 'made 999 call', say policeCalls for Bob Vylan concert to be cancelled Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said: "Today's hate crime statistics show that too many people are living in fear because of who they are, what they believe, or where they come from.

"Jewish and Muslim communities continue to experience unacceptable levels of often violent hate crime, and I will not tolerate British people being targeted simply because of their religion, race, or identity. She continued: "We have stepped up police patrols at synagogues and mosques following the abhorrent attack in Manchester last week, and I am working closely with faith leaders, providing £50m to keep places of worship safe and make sure they remain sanctuaries, not targets of hatred.

"We stand with every community facing these attacks and will ensure those who commit hate crimes face the full force of the law.".