Muslims make up 45% of religious hate crime victims in England and Wales

Muslims were the victims in nearly half of all religiously motivated hate crimes recorded in England and Wales last year, according to new Home Office figures that reveal a sharp rise in Islamophobic incidents.

The official data, published on 9 October, shows that 45 percent of all recorded religious hate crimes in the year to March 2025 targeted Muslims, marking a 20 percent increase compared with the previous year. The Home Office noted a "clear spike" in offences following the Southport murders and subsequent riots last summer.

Police forces across England and Wales, excluding London's Metropolitan Police, recorded 7,164 religion-based hate crimes, suggesting that the true national figure was likely higher.

The total number of hate crimes overall rose by three percent, reaching the highest annual level ever recorded.

Offences against Jews accounted for 29 percent of the total, with 2,873 recorded incidents, marking an 18 percent decrease from the previous year. By contrast, hate crimes targeting Muslims rose sharply, reaching 4,478 offences.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood described the findings as "deeply troubling", saying that "Jewish and Muslim communities continue to experience unacceptable levels of often violent hate crime".

"Too many people are living in fear because of who they are, what they believe, or where they come from," she said. "We have stepped up police patrols at synagogues and mosques following the abhorrent attack in Manchester [...] and are investing £50 million to protect places of worship and ensure they remain sanctuaries, not targets of hatred."

Concerns over accuracy and underreporting

Muslim organisations have voiced alarm at the figures, warning that the exclusion of London's Metropolitan Police data means the true scale of Islamophobic crimes was likely much higher. The omission follows a change in the Met's crime-recording system.

The Muslim Council of Britian has urged for reliable incident reporting and monitoring, saying it was an important piece of the puzzle to combating Islamophobia.

The rise in Islamophobic incidents has been linked to the Southport murders in July 2024, when 17-year-old Axel Rudakubana killed three children during a dance workshop. False rumours initially spread online that the attacker was Muslim, sparking violent far-right riots and attacks on mosques, including the Southport Islamic Society Mosque, which was vandalised.

Tell Mama said the surge in hate reports underscores a broader concern about how political narratives around migration were translating into harassment and abuse on the streets.

"The national debate around migration is having real-world impacts on the lives of people going about their daily activities," the charity said.

Imam Qari Asim, co-chairman of the British Muslim Network, said: "Whether it is Islamophobia, antisemitism or any form of bigotry, we must confront it together - with unity and courage, not silence."