Hate crimes targeting Muslims have increased by a nearly fifth in England and Wales, with a spike during last summer’s riots after the murder of three children in Southport, the latest figures show.
Police-recorded hate crime has risen for the first time in three years, including increases in both racially and religiously motivated offences, according to UK Home Office data,
The department said there was a 19 per cent rise in religious hate crimes targeted at Muslims in the 12 months ending in March this year, the latest period for which figures are available.
It highlighted a “clear spike” in these offences in August 2024, which coincided with the Southport murders on July 29 and the subsequent rioting in several English towns and cities.
After three girls were killed at dance party in the town, misinformation spread online that the attacker was a Muslim who had arrived in the UK on a small boat.
A 300-strong mob attacked a mosque in Southport, forcing police to evacuate worshippers for their own safety. Mosques in other parts of the country including Middlesbrough and Sunderland were also targeted.
Public order offences were the most commonly recorded hate crimes targeted against Muslims and Jews, accounting for 50 per cent for both communities.
There were 106 religious hate crimes per 10,000 population targeted at Jewish people, the highest rate for any religious group. The next highest rate was for hate crimes targeted at Muslims, with 12 per 10,000 population.
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.”
Ms Mahmood said police patrols at synagogues and mosques have been stepped up following the “abhorrent” attack against a synagogue Manchester last week.
Anti-Muslim hate monitoring organisation Tell Mama 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 it received 157 reports of anti-Muslim hate in the seven days following Tommy Robinson’s Unite the Kingdom rally in central London in September, for which more than 100,000 people turned out.
Excluding the data normally provided by the Metropolitan Police, religious hate crimes targeted at Jewish people fell by 18 per cent from 2,093 to 1,715 in the latest figures.
But the Home Office cautioned that the Met had recorded 40 per cent of all religious hate crimes targeted at Jewish people in the past year.
Separate and more recent figures – recorded by community organisations rather than police – have showed continuing high levels of religious hate incidents.
The Community Security Trust, which monitors anti-Semitism in the UK, recorded 1,521 such incidents in the first half of 2025.
This is the second-highest total reported to the organisation in the first six months of any year, but was down by a quarter from the 2,019 incidents recorded between January and June 2024.
Reports to the trust of anti-Semitism reached a record high of 4,296 in 2023 – the year of the October 7 attack by Hamas and the start of the Israel-Gaza war.
