Hate crime rises with religiously-motivated offences at record level

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

There were 7,164 such offences recorded by forces across the two nations – excluding the Metropolitan Police – in the year to March, up 3% from 6,973 in the previous 12 months.

This was the highest annual total of these offences recorded, the Home Office said.

The figures come exactly one week on from the Manchester synagogue attack.

In the wake of that incident, in which two people died and others were injured, an imam said there was a “growing tide of religious hatred in our country” which he insisted cannot be ignored.

Imam Qari Asim, co-chairman of the British Muslim Network, said: “Whether it is Islamophobia, antisemitism or any form of bigotry, we must confront it together – with unity and courage, not silence.”

The Home Office cautioned that because of a change in the crime recording system used by the Metropolitan Police – Britain’s biggest police force – figures are not directly comparable and it had therefore excluded this force’s data when looking at year-on-year trends.

Not including the Met, hate crimes targeted at Muslims were up by almost a fifth, from 2,690 offences recorded in the 12 months to March last year to 3,199 offences in the year ending March 2025.

The Home Office said there was a “clear spike in these offences in August 2024, which coincides with the Southport murders on July 29 and the subsequent disorder across several English towns and cities”.

Excluding the Met, religious hate crimes targeted at Jewish people and recorded by the other forces in England and Wales fell by 18%, from 2,093 to 1,715.

But, the department cautioned that the Met recorded 40% of all religious hate crimes targeted at Jewish people in the last year.

When taking into account all police forces, including the Met, the Home Office said Jewish people had the highest rate of religious hate crimes targeted towards them than any other faith group.

In the year to March, there were 106 religious hate crimes per 10,000 population targeted at Jewish people.

The next highest rate was for hate crimes targeted at Muslims, with 12 per 10,000 population.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said the latest figures “show that too many people are living in fear because of who they are, what they believe, or where they come from”.

She said: “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.”

Separate and more recent figures – recorded by community organisations rather than police – have showed continued high levels of religious hate incidents.

The Community Security Trust (CST), which monitors antisemitism in the UK, recorded 1,521 antisemitic incidents across the UK in the first half of 2025.

This was the second highest total ever reported to the organisation in the first six months of any year, but it was down by a quarter from the record high of 2,019 incidents recorded between January and June 2024.

Reports to the CST of antisemitism reached a record high in 2023 at 4,296 – the year that saw the October 7 attack by Hamas on Israel and the subsequent military action in the region that has continued since.

Meanwhile, anti-Muslim hate monitoring organisation Tell Mama previously said it received a total of 913 reports between June and September this year, with references made to 17 mosques and Islamic institutions being targeted within that period.

The organisation said that in the seven days following Tommy Robinson’s Unite the Kingdom rally – which saw more than 100,000 people turn out in central London as well as around 5,000 anti-racism demonstrators on September 13 – it received reports of 157 anti-Muslim hate.

The British Muslim Trust, a Government-funded organisation selected this year to monitor incidents of anti-Muslim hate, described the figures as “deeply concerning” and said anti-Muslim hatred is becoming normalised.

Trust chief executive Akeela Ahmed said the 19% rise in hate crime against Muslims was “staggering” but “it’s not the full story” as not every victim reports their experiences.

She added: “Hate crime against any community – from the Peacehaven firebomb to the Manchester synagogue attack, the targeting of mosques to the violence we saw last summer – damages us all.

“The British Muslim Trust stands in solidarity with all victims of prejudice and against hatred. Britain is and remains a largely tolerant and open country. We need to protect this important tradition and invest in overcoming all forms of hatred and bringing communities together.”

A CST spokesperson said “much more needs to be done to tackle” antisemitism and pledged to work with Government, police and community partners to do so, while the Board of Deputies of British Jews said in the wake of the Manchester attack “it is now clearer than ever that the Government must act to ensure the law is enforced on antisemitic hate speech, that legislation is strengthened where necessary, and that antisemitism is tackled in wider society”.

Green MP Carla Denyer said the “shocking” figures “should be a wake-up call – that when politicians fan the flames of hatred and division, it is real people who suffer the very real consequences”.

Meanwhile, according to the Home Office figures, published on Thursday, race hate crimes rose by 6% from 77,901 in the year to March 2024 to 82,490 in the year to this March.

Race hate crimes continue to account for the majority of police recorded hate crimes (71%) but while figures rose in the latest period, they remain below the peak seen in the year ending March 2022 when 87,905 offences were recorded.

The latest figures show falls 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.

Overall police-recorded hate crime in England and Wales stood at 115,990 in the year ending March 2025 – up 2% from 113,166 for the previous 12 months.

It was the first overall rise in three years.

Since the 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.

Including the Met’s figures, there were a total of 137,550 hate crimes recorded by the police in England and Wales.