Rising race and religious hate crime across England and Wales needs a meaningful government response

New Home Office data revealed a 19 per cent rise in anti-Muslim hate crimes in England and Wales, a major driver of which was the far-right violence and rioting after the Southport murders.

Of the 7,164 religious hate offences (up 3 per cent from 6,973 offences recorded in the previous year), almost half (45 per cent) targeted Muslim communities (4,478 offences), but the data excludes the Metropolitan Police (due to changes to their recording systems).

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

Following the swathes of far-right violence, disorder and rioting, police forces recorded 10,097 racially or religiously aggravated offences in August 2024, the highest monthly total ever recorded. Again, however, the data excludes the Metropolitan Police.

A further breakdown of the data from the 35 police forces revealed 624 anti-Muslim hate crimes in August 2024 alone, up 122.85 per cent from the previous month, before returning to reporting levels seen before the Southport murders.

Racist hate crimes rose 6 per cent, with 82,490 hate crimes (as of March 2025), accounting for 71 per cent of all offences. Public order offences rose by 7 per cent (2,736 offences) as racist and religiously aggravated harassment rose by over one-fifth (21 per cent, 1,497 offences), and violence without injury rose by 10 per cent (771 offences).

Almost one-fifth of anti-Muslim hate crimes involved assault with or without injury (18 per cent), which echoes a worrying trend Tell MAMA detailed in our previous report, as we recorded a 73 per cent rise in assault cases in 2024, verifying 171 cases.

As with previous statistical bulletins, Muslim and Jewish communities are disproportionately impacted by religious hate crimes, with the latest figures showing the rate of Religious hate crimes rate per 10,000 population is 12 for Muslims and 106 for Jewish communities, respectively (2,873 antisemitic hate crimes).

Despite the lack of Met police data in this bulletin, the force had specified that Jewish communities faced 40 per cent of all religious hate crimes in the past year.

Tell MAMA Director Iman called for a meaningful government response to rising hate crimes and racism and bigotry more generally in society, beyond gesture politics. In a statement, she said: “The latest Home Office hate crime figures showed a staggering 19% rise in hate crimes (4,478 hate crimes) against Muslims (excluding data from the Met police), a key driver was the spike in far-right violence and rioting after the Southport murders.

Our data at Tell MAMA has shown record levels of reporting of anti-Muslim hatred and Islamophobia in 2024 and into 2025.

The sharp rise in religious hate crimes again shows the continued disproportionate impacts on Muslim and Jewish communities, yet many other faith groups face rising hate, too. Racist hate crimes rose by 6% (82,490 hate crimes). Communities deserve more than platitudes and gesture politics. They want to feel safe at their places of worship, on our streets, and in public. There is a failure of leadership and of a coherent strategy to address this growing scourge and improve community relations, whilst ensuring there is no place for racism and bigotry in political and public life.”

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Categories: hate crime, News, Southport