Politicians discussing transgender issues may have lead to increase in hate crimes, Home Office admits
A rise in hate crimes against transgender people may have been fuelled by comments by politicians, the Home Office has admitted.
Transgender identity hate cimes have risen by 11 per cent in the year up to March 2023, the highest number since these figures started being recorded in 2012.
Recorded crimes have gone from 4,262 in 2022 to 4,732 the year after.
A Home Office briefing outlining the statistics published on Thursday said: “Transgender issues have been heavily discussed by politicians, the media and on social media over the last year, which may have led to an increase in these offences, or more awareness in the police in the identification and recording of these crimes.”
The mention of politicians was not included in the reasons given for transgender hate crimes the previous year, where crimes were attributed to heavy discussion on social media.
The number of overall hate crimes recorded by police in England and Wales have fallen year-on-year for the first time in a decade.
A total of 145,214 offences were recorded in the year ending March 2023, down 5 per cent from 153, 536 in the previous 12 months.
Religious hate crimes, like transgender crimes, had also increased – rising nine percent year-on-year.
The recorded rise in transgender identity crimes comes after a nation wide survey found that British people are growing less accepting of transgender people.
More to follow..
