Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesperson Alistair Carmichael has said that the spike in hate crime, recently announced, is down “to the nasty, divisive European referendum campaign”.

The report says was a sharp increase in the number of racially or religiously aggravated offences recorded by the police following the EU Referendum. The number of racially or religiously aggravated offences recorded by the police in July 2016 was 41% higher than in July 2015.

Alistair Carmichael said:

“This massive spike in hate crimes is down to the nasty, divisive European referendum campaign that pulled apart communities, families and neighbours.

“Farage stood next to dehumanising posters that depicted people as hordes and then stood back shocked that their fanning the flames of prejudice had a reaction.

“Our government is treating the the post referendum landscape in the same divisive way. Telling 16 million people they are ‘citizens of nowhere’ is beneath contempt and not a way to treat those who believe Britain should be at the heart of Europe.”

Figures recently released by the Home Office

In figures recently released by the Home Office, they show that 2015/16, there were 62,518 offences recorded by the police in which one or more hate crime strands were deemed to be a motivating factor. This was an increase of 19 per cent compared with the 52,4651 hate crimes recorded in 2014/15.

49,419 (79%) were race hate crimes;  7,194 (12%) were sexual orientation hate crimes;  4,400 (7%) were religious hate crimes;  3,629 (6%) were disability hate crimes; and  858 (1%) were transgender hate crimes.

Contact one of these Chinese organisations if you have recently been a victim of hate crime?

You can contact the following organisations for help. 

Chinese Advice and Information Service

London Chinese Community Centre 

Wai Yin Society Manchester