Labour is set to strengthen hate-crime laws watered down by the Tories over free-speech concerns in order to crack down on anti-Semitic and Islamophobic abuse.
As reported in The Telegraph, Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, is considering a new “zero-tolerance” approach to ensure that anti-Semitic and Islamophobic hate falling short of criminality is recorded by police.
She is understood to be committed to reversing the Tories’ decision to downgrade the monitoring of non-crime hate incidents, specifically in relation to anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, so they can be logged by police.
Home Office sources said incidents would only be recorded where “proportionate and necessary” to protect Jewish and Muslim individuals and communities from abusive and hateful comments and behaviour while also preserving the “fundamental right” to free speech.
Suella Braverman, as home secretary, issued new guidance last year ordering forces to stop recording the incidents just because someone was offended amid concern that freedom of expression was being curtailed.
Officers are restricted to recording only incidents motivated by intentional hostility, and which pose a real risk of escalating into significant harm.
The changes followed “trivial” cases such as a man who ended up with a police file for whistling the theme tune to Bob the Builder at his neighbour, who perceived racial hatred.
Labour, however, believes the guidance is preventing police from monitoring tensions involving Jewish and Muslim communities that could escalate into violence and criminality.
This then prevents local agencies from providing support to the communities.
Any new guidance is likely to be drawn up in consultation with the College of Policing, the national standards body, with police given discretion on how to apply it. Persistent perpetrators could have their personal details logged although that would be at the discretion of police forces.
The Government adopted an international definition of anti-Semitism in 2016 under Theresa May. Although not legally binding, it is designed to help police and criminal agencies tackle it.
There is no similar definition for Islamophobia. However, Angela Rayner’s Housing, Communities and Local Government department is considering whether to introduce one for Islamophobia – although there is controversy over how widely it could be drawn.
Critics have suggested that some definitions of Islamophobia could curtail free speech by limiting legitimate criticism of the religion.
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