Rise in transphobic hate crime in Mitlon Keynes and Thames Valley police area

Thames Valley police area saw more hate crimes committed against transgender people in 2022-23 than during the year before, new figures show.

The Home Office says public discussion by political leaders and the media could be behind a rise in transphobic hate crime across the country.

New figures from the Home Office show Thames Valley Police recorded 253 hate crimes against transgender people in the year to March – a rise from 195 in 2021-22.

This follows the national trend – the data also shows an 11% rise in anti-transgender offences across England and Wales, with more than 4,700 crimes recorded in 2022-23.

Responding to the figures, LGBTQ+ group Stonewall criticised political leaders for not having acted "seriously or quickly enough" against hate crime.

The charity added: "Many of them are filling the public domain with toxic language that dehumanises LGBTQ+ people".

In its write-up of the statistics, the Home Office said: "Transgender issues have been heavily discussed by politicians, the media and on social media over the last year, which may have led to an increase in these offences, or more awareness in the police in the identification and recording of these crimes."

Thames Valley Police recorded 5,529 general hate crimes in 2022-23 – down from 5,555 the year before.

Among these, 3,825 offences (69%) were motivated by race or ethnicity, 685 (12%) by sexual orientation, 257 (5%) by religious belief, while 752 crimes (14%) were against those with disabilities.

Individual offences can have more than one motivating factor.

A spokesperson for the Home Office said there is "no place for hate in our society" and the Government remains "committed to ensuring these abhorrent offences are stamped out".

They added: "We are pleased there has been an overall reduction in hate crimes recorded by police, and the numbers of sexual orientation, race and disability hate crimes all fell. But any instance is one too many.

"We expect the police to fully investigate these hateful attacks and make sure the cowards who commit them feel the full force of the law."