Home secretary set to strengthen hate crime laws to help tackle anti-Jewish hate

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper will honour a pre-election pledge to make police record more non-criminal hate incidents in an effort to combat rising anti-Jewish and anti-Muslim hate.

In a reversal of changes introduced last year by Suella Braverman, the former home secretary, who issued new guidance to police that downgraded the duty to monitor non-criminal hate incidents, Cooper is understood to support a strengthening of police recording of hate incidents.

It is part of what she has said should be a “zero tolerance” approach to rising antisemitism and Islamophobic incidents.

Cooper has described the previous Tory government’s response to growing extremist threats as “too slow, too confused and at times completely counterproductive”.

Jewish News understands that communal leaders have been among those to raise concerns that the measures introduced by Braverman are preventing police from monitoring and identifying tensions and threats to Jewish and Muslim communities that may escalate into violence.

Cooper believes police should antisemitic and anti-Muslim hatred that falls short of criminality should still be recorded, including the taking of perpetrators’ names.

Some Conservatives, along with civil rights campaigners have claimed that the planned reversal of police guidance is a threat to free speech.

But a Home Office source appeared to confirm Cooper’s plan to change the guidance to police, telling The Times:“The Home Office has committed to reverse the decision of the previous government to downgrade the monitoring of anti-semitic and Islamophobic hate, at a time when rates of those incidents have increased.

“It is vital that the police can capture data relating to non-crime hate incidents when it is proportionate and necessary to do so in order to help prevent serious crimes which may later occur. We are carefully considering how best to protect individuals and communities from hate whilst also balancing the need to protect the fundamental right to free speech.”