The government is looking to expand the number of “protected characteristics” for hate crimes to include men, old people, and Goths, as the number of recorded hate incidents in every category increased to a new record high.

Home Office figures for England and Wales released this Tuesday revealed hate crime claims have more than doubled in the past five years, with the official government report linking the increase to Brexit and Islamist terrorist attacks.

It says the “increase is thought to be largely driven by improvements in police recording, although there has been spikes in hate crime following certain events such as the EU Referendum and the terrorist attacks in 2017”.

Hate crime offences recorded by the police rose by 17 percent to 94,098 in the 12 months to March 2018, representing an upsurge of 123 percent since 2012-13 when 42,255 hate crimes were recorded.

Pro-EU Activists And Lazy Journalists Are Pushing The ‘Hate Crimes’ Narrative After Brexit https://t.co/GRYoO9tfjD pic.twitter.com/sFm9Zz4BXH — Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) June 29, 2016

Reported religious hate crimes increased by 40 percent in the two years to March, to 8,336 incidents, representing nine percent of all hate crimes. Around half related to Muslims and Islam.

However, race is deemed to be a motivating factor in the bulk of cases, representing 71,251 incidents in the year to March, or 76 percent of recorded hate incidents.

Sexual orientation was a factor in 11,638 (12 percent) of incidents, disability hate incidents were numbered 7,226 (8 percent), and 1,651 of incidents (2 percent) were classed as involving transgenderism.

Hate crimes only need to be “perceived” by the alleged victim or a witness and, according to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), no evidence is needed to log them in police records.

While the number reported to and recorded by police has been rising to record levels, CPS figures from last year showed the number being prosecuted successfully has, in fact, been falling.

The new figures come as the government asks the Law Commission to “consider if there should be additional protected characteristics, such as “misogyny and age” as well as “alternative” cultures such as “Goths”.

The independent body, which investigates if laws need updating, began its review of hate crimes following a campaign by the Labour MP Stella Creasy to have offensive comments about women be recognised as hate crimes.

‘Dislike’ and ‘Unfriendliness’ Can Be Hate Crimes, UK Police Confirm

https://t.co/UMwDGHW2YM — Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) October 25, 2017

Some individual police forces began treating “misogyny” and offending women as hate incidents back in 2016 and London’s Metropolitan force revealed last year they are considering following suit.

The Home Office also announced £1.5 million of new funding “for programmes that work with schools and young people to challenge discriminatory beliefs” and said that they have given money to nine churches, 22 mosques, two Hindu temples, and 12 Sikh gurdwaras over the year.

Commenting on the latest figures and review, Home Secretary Sajid Javid said: “Hate crime goes directly against the long-standing British values of unity, tolerance and mutual respect – and I am committed to stamping this sickening behaviour out.

“Our refreshed action plan sets out how we will tackle the root causes of prejudice and racism, support hate crime victims and ensure offenders face the full force of the law.”