A general view of graffiti on a wall in BristolRACIST hate crimes have reached record highs amid an “unprecedented” rise in attacks on mosques that are increasingly “targeting the Muslims inside.”
Home Office figures today revealed a 7 per cent annual rise in racially and religiously motivated offences.
Police recorded 146,825 offences in the year ending March 2026, with those targeting Muslims increasing the most — up 15 per cent. Antisemitic hate crimes also rose steeply, by 10 per cent.
Sharp increases in anti-Muslim offences in September 2025 when anti-racist protesters challenged the “Unite the Kingdom” march and rally organised by the far-right agitator Stephen Yaxley Lennon, although there is no suggestion that Yaxley Lennon committed any crime by doing so.
There was another uptick in March following the unprovoked US-Israeli attack on Iran.
The British Muslim Trust (BMT), appointed by the government in July 2025 to monitor anti-Muslim hostility, warned today: “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.”
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