5 hours ago
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Joshua Nevett
Political reporter
The recording of non-crime hate incidents by police forces should be scrapped in all but a few cases, the Conservatives have said.
The party will try to amend the government's Crime and Policing Bill to ban forces from logging such incidents, except in limited circumstances.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said non-crime hate incidents (NCHIs) had "wasted police time chasing ideology and grievance instead of justice".
But Policing Minister Diana Johnson said the plan was "unworkable" and "would prevent the police monitoring serious antisemitism and other racist incidents".
NCHIs are defined as alleged acts perceived to be motivated by hostility or prejudice towards people with certain characteristics, such as race or gender.
They are recorded to collect data on "hate incidents that could escalate into more serious harm" but do not amount to a criminal offence, according to Home Office guidance.
Police guidance on the recording of NCHIs was first published in 2005, following recommendations by an inquiry into the murder of Stephen Lawrence.
Tuesday marks 33 years since he was murdered in a racially motivated attack in south-east London.
The Tories said it was not intentional that their announcement came on the anniversary.
NCHIs are not recorded nationally by a single source and not all police forces publish data on the number of incidents they log.
Last year, the Telegraph newspaper reported that 43 forces in England and Wales had recorded more than 133,000 non-crime hate incidents (NCHI) since 2014.
In 2023, the Conservative government changed the guidance on the recording of NCHIs.
The new guidelines said officers should consider whether a complaint was "trivial" or if the incident was motivated by "intentional hostility or prejudice".
At the time, shadow home secretary Chris Philp was policing minister and in a statement to MPs, he said: "If someone is targeted because of hostility or prejudice towards their race, religion, sexual orientation, disability or transgender identity, and the criteria in the code are met, the incident can and should be recorded as a non-crime hate incident."
But the Conservatives under Badenoch's leadership are saying the "use of NCHIs has spiralled out of control".
The party said under its plans, only senior officers would be allowed to record NCHIs in clearly defined circumstances, such as the prevention or investigation or actual crimes.
"The British public want police on the streets - fighting crime and protecting families - not trawling social media for things someone might find offensive," Badenoch said.
She said Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer needed to "stand up, show some courage, and back real policing over political correctness".
Policing minister Diana Johnson said the Tories had "14 years in charge of policing to set priorities or make policy changes in this area, and failed to do so".
She added: "Instead of introducing unworkable and half-baked measures which would prevent the police monitoring serious antisemitism and other racist incidents, the Tories should support the Labour government's prioritisation of neighbourhood policing and serious violence."
A Reform UK spokesman said: "The Tories had 14 years in government to do this, instead we saw non-crime hate incidents surge under their watch.
"Reform are clear, we want to get more bobbies on the beat and put an end to two-tier policing in Britain. Police forces across the country should be focussed on solving real crimes, not policing social media posts."
The BBC has approached the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party for comment.
Policing and crime are among the issues political parties have been campaigning on ahead of next week's local elections in England.
In an interview with the BBC, Badenoch said the Tories were bracing for a tough set of results.
She defended her leadership of the Conservatives and insisted she would not be swayed by internal criticism about the amount of policy she had announced so far.
"It's really important that we take time to get things right - rebuild trust with the public and have a credible offer," Badenoch said.
