“The Government isn’t doing enough to tackle the rise in hate crime”- Labour announce plans to deal with hate crimes

Recently, there have been documented rises in antisemitism, Islamophobia, racist attacks, disability hate crime and attacks on people within the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community. Yvette Cooper, Shadow Home Secretary, is going to outline a strategy to deal with this.

Cooper will explain Labour’s cross-Government strategy, which will include creating more robust law to make hate crimes against LGBT and disabled people an aggravated criminal offence.

It will also mean changing the criminal records framework so hate crimes are clearly marked on the criminal records of perpetrators, looking at police and CPS guidance to ensure all hate crimes on social media are covered, and giving more support for programmes in schools that deal with hate crimes.

Cooper will explain the significance of this new strategy and outline that the government is currently not doing enough to address the rising number of hate crimes reported:

“Hate crimes have no place in modern Britain. No one should fear being attacked because of their religion, their sexuality, the colour of their skin or their disability. Much more needs to be done to ensure those who commit these very serious crimes are brought to justice and this includes looking at where the law needs to be strengthened.

“But we also need to be looking at what more we can do to prevent discrimination, bigotry and hate taking hold in the first place. This includes work in schools to teach equality and the importance of understanding and respecting each other’s differences.

“And much more needs to be done to tackle hate crime online. Too often industry has been slow to respond to reports of their social media platforms being used to bully and abuse people or spread abhorrent ideology.

“The Government is not doing enough to tackle the rise in hate crime on its watch. Labour is determined that more should be done to stop the spread of hatred, hostility and division in our communities.”