My Letter to Sarah Jones on Renewing the National Hate Crime Action Plan

I have written to the Minister for Policing and Crime, Sarah Jones, to ask that the Home Office renew and strengthen the National Hate Crime Action Plan.

You can read the letter in full here:

The full text of the letter reads:

24 April 2026

Sarah Jones MP

Minister for Policing and Crime

BY EMAIL

Dear Sarah,

Re: Renewing the National Hate Crime Action Plan

I am writing to ask that the Home Office renew and strengthen the National Hate Crime Action Plan,

which has not been updated since its refresh in 2020. This letter follows similar correspondence you

will have received from SARI (Stand Against Racism & Inequality), a specialist hate crime charity

operating in my constituency, which I work with closely.

The profound human, social and economic cost of hate crime is felt daily in my constituency and

across the UK. The absence of an up-to-date national strategy leaves victims, communities, and

frontline agencies without the coordinated leadership required at a time when hate-motivated

incidents are rising and becoming more complex. The Crime Survey for England and Wales

continues to show that hate crime is a significant and persistent problem. Recent estimates indicate

substantial volumes of hate crime each year, with many victims never reporting to the authorities.

Police-recorded hate crime has also been elevated over the past decade, with race-related hate crime

consistently the most common category. While improved recording practices account for some of

the change, the Home Office also notes genuine increases in hostility behind these trends.

We are also witnessing a concerning rise in extreme right-wing activity, rhetoric, and mobilisation.

The UK’s security agencies continue to warn about extreme right-wing terrorism as a stubborn and

evolving threat, whilst civil society and think-tanks highlight the role of online radicalisation,

conspiracy-driven narratives and dehumanising language towards minority groups. The UK is not

alone. Around the world, hate-motivated violence and extremist rhetoric have surged, driven by

geopolitical tensions, online radicalisation and polarisation. Recent global events illustrate the

urgency, from the 2025 Bondi Beach attack in Sydney to the racially motivated riots in summer

2024 here in the UK. Transnational online extremist ecosystems amplify and spread harmful

narratives across borders, demanding a coordinated response that includes regulation, platform

accountability and digital literacy.

The UK has learned painful lessons from tragic cases that exposed institutional failings and the

consequences of not acting early. Many cases demonstrate how hate crimes can escalate into

extremism when early warning signs are missed, from the murders of Bijan Ebrahimi and Kamal

Ahmad Ali in Bristol; the deaths of Fiona Pilkington and her daughter Francecca following years of

disability-related harassment; and cases such as Mohammed Saleem, Lee Rigby and the Finsbury

Park mosque attack.

The 2016–2020 National Hate Crime Action Plan provided a valuable framework for improving

reporting, supporting victims, and building community resilience. However, the landscape has

changed dramatically since 2020 — including the pandemic’s unequal impacts, heightened

polarisation and online hate, rising antisemitism and Islamophobia linked to international conflicts,

growing hostility toward migrants, asylum seekers and refugees, and increased targeting of

LGBTQ+ communities.

A refreshed National Hate Crime Action Plan is now needed to reaffirm the UK’s commitment to

tackling all forms of hate crime. I recognise that the government has recently published its

Protecting What Matters Community Cohesion Strategy and Action Plan, but key provisions are not

included in this.

A new National Hate Crime Action Plan must:

• Provide a framework for multi-agency coordination on hate crime.
• Make provision for specialist hate-crime victim services.
• Create a statutory duty for local authorities to provide hate-crime support, akin to the statutory framework for domestic abuse support, to end the postcode lottery of victim support
• Include specific measures to tackle online hate or extremism.
• Improve hate-crime data collection or transparency.
• Offer hate-crime-specific prevention or education initiatives.
• Have due regard for the murders that have led to many of the above recommendations, such as the deaths of Stephen Lawrence, Anthony Walker, Fiona Pilkington and Sophie Lancaster

I would be very happy to discuss this matter with you further, or to put you in touch with SARI, who

stand ready to support the Home Office in this work.

Yours sincerely,

Carla Denyer MP

Member of Parliament for Bristol Central