Hate crimes doubled during Brexit

Reports of hate crimes across schools in England almost doubled during the Brexit referendum campaign last year, according to a new report released on Saturday.

Figures obtained by the Times Educational Supplement as part of Freedom of Information requests shows that in the three months surrounding the June 23 vote — May, June and July last year — 30 of England’s police forces recorded a 54 percent increase in reported hate crimes and incidents in schools.

There was an 89 percent rise in police reports of hate crime in May 2016, the month before the referendum was held, compared to the same month the previous year.