Labour candidate for West Midlands mayor Siôn Simon claims there have been “hundreds of thousands” of hate crimes since last June’s Brexit vote and believes they should be reported to “mosques and community centres” not the police. Speaking during a visit to the Quadria Trust Mosque and Community Centre, Birmingham, Simon said:

“Hundreds of thousands of hate crimes have been suffered since the Brexit vote last year. And one smaller practical thing we can do – what they call secondary reporting – in order to report a hate crime you shouldn’t have to go to a policeman, to a police station, you should be able to report a hate crime perhaps in a mosque or in a community centre, or somewhere that is less intimidating and easier for members of our communities to feel that they can go to and talk about terrible things that have happened to them.”

Government statistics show there were 62,518 hate crime offences recorded in 2015/16 in England and Wales. In 2014-15 the hate crime figure was 52,465. It would take a staggering rise for there to have been “hundreds of thousands” since Brexit…

Siôn Simon is being recklessly irresponsible in telling voters to report crimes to mosques not the police, this could lead to religious vigilantism, the police and the courts are the proper way to deal with crime…