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Racist and religious hate crimes increased in the UK directly after the Brexit vote, official figures show.

Nearly 5,500 racially or religiously motivated offences were reported to police in the month after the vote, new Home Office figures revealed today.

The statistics also show that the the number of racially or religiously aggravated offences, which include assaults, verbal abuse and xenophobic graffiti, remained above pre-vote levels in August with around 4,500 further incidents during the month, despite falling from its July peak.

The findings provide the most authorative confirmation so far of a rise in hate crime following the Brexit vote and prompted an immediate pledge from Home Secretary Amber Rudd for a renewed effort to combat the problem.

“Hatred has no place in a Britain that works for everyone and we are determined to stamp it out,” the Home Secretary said.

“I am pleased to see Government action is working and that more victims are finding the confidence to come forward to report these crimes.

“Our hate crime laws are among the best in the world, but we cannot be complacent. Our Hate Crime Action Plan, published in July, sets out how we are further reducing hate crime, increasing reporting and improving support for victims.”

Today’s Home Office report also reveals that hate crime was already on the rise even before the referendum, with the 62,518 recorded offences in England and Wales during the year to the end of March representing a 19 per cent increase on the previous 12 months.

Four fifths of the hate crimes committed during 2015/16 - amounting to just under 50,000 offences - were racially motivated.

Another 12 per cent were “sexual orientation hate crimes” and seven per cent were prompted by religious hatred.

The other victims were targeted over disabilities or for being transgender.

There is less detail on the post-referendum crimes, which are highlighted in a special annex to today’s report.

But the report states that there was “a clear increase following the referendum result” with 35,468 such crimes logged in July, compared with 3,886 in July 2015.

Offences peaked on July 1 when there were 207 alleged race or religious hate crimes recorded.

Today’s report adds: “There is an increase in these [hate crime] offences recorded in June 2016, followed by an even sharper increase in July 2016.

“The number of aggravated offences recorded then declined in August, but remained at a higher level than prior to the EU Referendum.

"These increases fit the widely reported pattern of an increase in hate crime following the EU referendum. The number of racially or religiously aggravated offences recorded by the police in July 2016 was 41 per cent higher than in July 2015.”

Separate data from 31 police forces also shows that in the two weeks up to and including the day of the referendum on June 23, 1,546 racially or religiously aggravated offences were recorded.

On the period before the referendum, today’s report adds that all forms of hate crime rose during the 2015/16.

It suggests that part of this could be the result of improved police recording of such offences, but also points that out that “trigger” events have in the past been shown to lead to an increase in offending.

It says that examples of this include rises in hate crime following the murder of soldier Lee Rigby in 2013 and another increase after the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris last year.

Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesman Alistair Carmichael claimed the rise in hate crime was the result of a referendum campaign that “fanned the flames of prejudice.”

He added: “This massive spike in hate crimes is down to the nasty, divisive European referendum campaign that pulled apart communities, families and neighbours.

"Our government is treating the the post referendum landscape in the same divisive way.

"Telling 16 million people they are ‘citizens of nowhere’ is beneath contempt and not a way to treat those who believe Britain should be at the heart of Europe.”