Hate crime rose 29 per cent in the UK following terror attacks earlier this year, the Home Office has said, as higher levels of victim reporting drove figures up.

The official figures showed that there were 80,393 offences recorded by police in 2016/17, an increase from 62,518 hate crimes recorded in 2015/16.

Preliminary data for the period since March also showed that there was a spike in recorded hate crime following the attack in Manchester in May and in London Bridge and Borough Market in June, the Home Office report said.

The Home Office said that as well as a genuine rise some of the increase was thought to be down to "ongoing improvements in crime recording by the police".

New hate crime guidance published in 2014 by the College of Policing states that "the perception of the victim, or any other person" is a defining factor in determining whether a hate crime based on factors such as race, sexuality or disability has taken place.

It also says that police should not question a victim or witness's impression that a crime was motivated by hate or prejudice, and that "evidence of the hostility is not required for an incident or crime to be recorded as a hate crime or hate incident".