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

Racially and religiously motivated offences have reached record highs in the UK as the government’s main Islamophobia partner says attacks on mosques are increasing in severity.Home Office figures show police recorded 146,825 hate crimes in the year ending March 2026 – a rise of 7% in the past year. Offences targeting Muslims increased the most – up 15%, from 4,479 to 5,132, while antisemitic hate crimes rose by 10%, from 2,874 to 3,162.The data excluded figures for the Metropolitan Police because of a change in their crime recording system.Religious hate crime offences recorded in England and Wales in the 12 months to March – excluding the Met – were at their highest annual total – 8,214 – since records began in 2012.The Home Office reported sharp increases in anti-Muslim offences in September 2025, coinciding with protests and public disorder, and again in March after the outbreak of war between the US and Iran.Anti-Muslim hate crimes reached a record 3,660 offences, the highest annual total since this data was first collected in 2018.The British Muslim Trust (BMT), appointed by the government in July 2025 to monitor Anti-Muslim hostility, said there had been a shift from hate aimed at mosques to “targeting [the] Muslims inside”.BMT recorded 78 incidents involving 64 mosques across the UK and the Channel Islands between 21 July 2025 and 30 July 2026, roughly equivalent to an incident every five days.A report published on Thursday by BMT, titled A Year of Division, said: “There has been an unprecedented level of anti-Muslim hate during the last year … The momentum of growing Anti-Muslim hostility is driving the attacks against mosques … The defining shift across this reporting period is a movement from hate aimed at the mosque itself to hate targeting Muslims inside it.”Supporters of Ukip march in London. Photograph: Martin Pope/GettyAccording to BMT’s own seven-level severity scale, 62.7% of incidents since November 2025 fell into the upper four levels – threats and sustained harassment; weapon present or threats to kill; arson or direct violence; and alleged mass-casualty plots. Between July and October 2025, just 22.2% of incidents were of the more serious kind.BMT added: “Political figures and commentators should take greater care when raising policy concerns regarding immigration or integration.“Rhetoric intended as policy critique on immigration or integration can often become incendiary and difficult to distinguish from hostility directed at British Muslim communities specifically.”Ammer Amin, a trustee of Masjid Al-Ummah, a planned mosque on the site of a former church in Watford, which has been repeatedly targeted, said: “It’s almost open season [on Muslims] and people feel emboldened by politicians.“It’s easy to say it’s the Reform party, but it’s not just the Reform party. It’s the Conservative party as well. I’m not party political, but they’re singing from the same hymn sheet. They’re almost competing.”Amin said the mosque’s plans included a sports hall, gym, nursery and food bank for the use of everyone in the local community. In October last year, crucifixes were sprayed on the building’s hoardings. A man later admitted possession of a knife and an axe, but was cleared of criminal damage. In February this year, model pigs were thrown into the premises in another incident.Akeela Ahmed, BMT’s CEO, said: “Security needs are increasing … and many Muslims today are scared to go about their everyday lives. We need to reduce the need for protection and address the root causes of hate against Muslim communities.”Meanwhile, the Community Security Trust has said “antisemitic hate crime remains at an unacceptably high level”.The new government data showed hate crimes against Jewish people were, when data from the Met was excluded, at their second highest level on record.A total of 2,003 offences were recorded, just below the peak of 2,093 in the year ending March 2024, which followed the 7 October Hamas attacks on Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza.