Racial and religious hate crimes at record high in England and Wales, data shows

What is a hate crime, and how is it different from an ordinary crime?

A hate crime is an ordinary offence with an added element: hostility toward a person or community because of identity. That identity can include race or religion. The offence might involve threats, abuse, damage, violence, or another criminal act. What makes it a hate crime is the targeted hostility, not simply the harm caused.

For example, damaging a building is a crime. Spraying crucifixes on mosque hoardings because the site is associated with Muslims can also be recorded as a hate-related incident, depending on the evidence and police classification. The group-based motive makes the offence threatening beyond the immediate victim.

This distinction matters because hate crimes can intimidate whole communities. The article reports rising attacks on Muslims and Jewish people, including threats and violence at or around religious sites. Police figures count recorded offences, while organisations such as the British Muslim Trust separately monitor incidents and severity.

How many hate crimes were recorded, and which religious groups saw the largest increases?

Police recorded 146,825 hate crimes in the year ending March 2026, a 7% increase in one year. The figures show that religious and racial hostility remains a major part of recorded offending. They measure offences known to police, rather than every incident experienced by communities.

Anti-Muslim offences saw the largest increase among the religious categories highlighted. They rose 15%, from 4,479 to 5,132. Antisemitic hate crimes rose 10%, from 2,874 to 3,162. These increases were recorded against a wider backdrop of protests, public disorder, and war-related tensions.

The numbers indicate worsening pressure on both Muslim and Jewish communities. Muslim offences had the sharper annual rise, while Jewish offences remained at an exceptionally high level. The article also notes that religious hate crimes in England and Wales, excluding the Met, reached their highest annual total since records began.

Why are these figures described as record highs, and what does the 2012 starting point tell us?

The figures are called record highs because the recorded total for religious hate crime in England and Wales, excluding the Met, is the highest annual figure in the available series. The total reached 8,214 in the 12 months to March 2026. Anti-Muslim and antisemitic offences also rose sharply within that total.

Records began in 2012, so that year marks the comparison baseline. It tells us how long the official series has been tracking these offences. A later “highest since records began” figure means no previous year in that series reached the same level, rather than proving that no earlier incidents occurred.

The wording also shows the limits of the comparison. The article gives the religious-crime record for England and Wales while excluding Metropolitan Police data. It reports a wider UK hate-crime total separately. These are different measures, so they should not be treated as identical national totals.

What events coincided with the sharp increases in anti-Muslim hate crimes in September 2025 and March 2026?

The article links two sharp increases in anti-Muslim offences to major public events. The first occurred in September 2025, when protests and public disorder coincided with a clear rise. The second came in March 2026, after war broke out between the US and Iran.

These timings show how international conflict and domestic unrest can coincide with increased hostility against a religious community. The article does not say that every offence was directly caused by those events. It reports that police recorded notable increases during those periods.

The pattern helps explain why anti-Muslim hate reached 5,132 recorded offences, up 15% in a year. The British Muslim Trust also reported growing hostility toward mosques and people inside them. Together, the figures suggest that periods of unrest can create a more dangerous environment for Muslim communities, requiring close monitoring and stronger prevention.

What happens to Muslim communities when attacks shift from damaging mosques to threatening people inside them?

When attacks shift from mosque buildings to Muslims inside them, the threat becomes more personal and immediate. Damage to property can be frightening, but attacks directed at worshippers can endanger lives and make ordinary religious practice feel unsafe. The British Muslim Trust says this was the defining shift during its reporting period.

Its severity data shows the mechanism. Since November 2025, 62.7% of incidents fell within the upper four levels, including sustained harassment, threats to kill, weapons, arson, direct violence, and alleged mass-casualty plots. Earlier, from July to October, only 22.2% were in those more serious categories.

The reported consequence is fear and greater security needs. Akeela Ahmed said many Muslims are scared to go about everyday life. Increasing protection may help, but BMT argues that the root causes of hostility must also be addressed so communities do not remain under constant threat.

Why do police figures, British Muslim Trust reports and Community Security Trust figures differ, and why are Metropolitan Police data sometimes excluded?

The figures differ because the organisations use different sources, coverage, and definitions. Home Office figures are police-recorded hate crimes. The British Muslim Trust recorded incidents involving mosques and assessed their severity. The Community Security Trust reported antisemitic hate crime. These measures are related, but they are not interchangeable.

BMT recorded 78 incidents involving 64 mosques between 21 July 2025 and 30 July 2026. Its seven-level scale includes threats, weapons, direct violence, and alleged mass-casualty plots. Police data instead count recorded offences, while CST’s figures focus on antisemitic incidents and report a separate total.

The article presents some England and Wales religious-hate totals excluding the Metropolitan Police, but it does not explain why the Met is excluded. It only shows that Met data are treated separately in those comparisons. Therefore, differences may reflect coverage and counting methods, not simply disagreement about the level of hate.

How can political language about immigration or integration become hostility directed at an entire religious or ethnic community?

Political language becomes dangerous when it stops discussing specific policies and starts portraying an entire religious or ethnic community as a problem. Immigration and integration debates may involve legitimate policy concerns, but broad or inflammatory wording can attach blame to people because of their identity. That can make hostility appear acceptable.

The British Muslim Trust warns that rhetoric intended as policy critique can become difficult to distinguish from hostility directed at British Muslim communities. The article records Ammer Amin’s view that Muslims feel emboldened by politicians, while also saying the concern is not limited to one party. These comments show how public language may affect perceived permission to target people.

BMT says political figures and commentators should take greater care. The concern matters because the article reports rising anti-Muslim offences and increasingly serious attacks. More careful language alone would not resolve the problem, but it could reduce the risk that policy arguments fuel hostility against communities.

Key Facts:

📌 Hate crimes include hostility linked to race or religion.

📌 The group-based motive distinguishes hate crime from ordinary crime.

📌 Hate incidents can intimidate entire communities beyond the immediate victim.

📌 Police recorded 146,825 hate crimes in the year ending March 2026.

📌 Anti-Muslim offences rose 15%, reaching 5,132.

📌 Antisemitic offences rose 10%, reaching 3,162.

📌 Religious hate crimes reached 8,214 in England and Wales, excluding the Met.