Hate Crimes in the UK have been on a gradual incline since 2025 according to the home office and has doubled by 2% with there being 115,990 hate crimes recorded by the police in England and Wales but offences recorded by the Metropolitan Police are not included in this year’s figures due to changes in how the force records crimes.

And North Yorkshire Police in 2025 recorded 1,012 hate crimes in the same time period, a two per cent decrease from 1,036 the previous year. Of those, 647 were racially motivated, compared to 658 the previous year and 55 were religious hate crime offences, an increase from 44 in 2023-2024.

Here is the data:

Recorded Date (Year)	Recorded Date (Month)	Distinct Count
2024
	Nov	44
	Dec	29
2025
	Jan	27
	Feb	35
	Mar	34
	Apr	43
	May	45
	Jun	51
	Jul	45
	Aug	44
	Sep	60
	Oct	51
Total		508

Here it is broken down by area;

Ward	Distinct Count
Acomb	11
Bishopthorpe	<5
Clifton	41
Dringhouses and Woodthorpe	13
Fishergate	32
Fulford	<5
Guilldhall	153
Haxby and Wigginton	8
Heslington	13
Heworth	23
Heworth Without	<5
Holgate	12
Hull Road	32
Huntington and New Earswick	34
Micklegate	67
Osbaldwick	<5
Rural West York	<5
Skelton, Rawcliffe and Clifton Without	16
Strensall	<5
Westfield	37
Wheldrake	<5
York SNT – Not Specified	<5
Total	508

So Let`s Talk About It!

Anti-Muslim attacks have risen partially due to the October 7th attacks, disinformation and misinformation efforts on social media in conjuction with bot accounts as well as the Southport riots.

Also 2024 saw the highest number of anti-Muslim hate cases recorded by Tell MAMA in any year, since the founding of the project in 2011/2012. This amounted to 6,313 cases of anti-Muslim hate reported to Tell MAMA, a rise of 165% of verified cases reported in since 2022 and in just 2 years.

The Centre for Media Monitoring, a non-profit organisation that examines how Muslims and Islam are portrayed in the media, published an report on the 9th of March, where they found that from the 40,000 articles from 30 outlets, that 70% associated Muslims & Islam with negative aspects or behaviour.

Rizwana Hamid, Director of CfMM, said:

“As the largest study of its kind ever conducted in the UK, this report presents deeply concerning evidence of structural bias in how Muslims are portrayed in the UK press.

“When nearly half of all articles referencing Muslims or Islam are biased, and almost 70% associate Muslims with negative aspects or behaviours, it points to a systemic problem within our media ecosystem. When entire communities are repeatedly framed through lenses of suspicion or threat, it inevitably shapes public attitudes, political debate and the everyday lives of British Muslims.”

Faisal Hanif summarises it succtinctly: “When media coverage systematically associates Muslims with threat and conflict while stripping away context and substituting generalisation for nuance, it creates the conditions for discriminatory policies to gain public support, for hate crimes to be rationalised, and for millions of British Muslims to be regarded with suspicion in their own country.”

Why?

I spoke to Reverend Jane Speck, York St John University Chaplain to find out about her Christian faith and why these hate crimes happen :

She further adds on the importance of conversation, stating: “My aim is always to try get different groups to talk to each other and to actually see each other as people.”

She gave the example of just before last Christmas, they did an evening between the Muslim chaplain and the Jewish faith advisor to talk about the situation in Israel and Gaza and that people could come and take part and “they had this amazing conversation about how they see that conflict and how they experience it in their communities here.”

she further adds, ” But I think its, you, they both talked about their desire for peace and how they would like to see peace brought about and those are the kind of meetings and conversations that help people think about what they`re thinking or what their prejudices are.”

Let’s end with the words of Jami – Sufi Saint & Poet

Whether your destiny is glory or disgrace,
Purify yourself of hatred and love of self.
Polish your mirror; and that sublime Beauty
From the regions of mystery
Will flame out in your heart
As it did for the saints and prophets.
Then, with your heart on fire with that Splendor, 
The secret of the Beloved will no longer be hidden. – Sufi Saint & Poet; Jami