Greater Manchester sees sharp rise in anti-Semitic incidents after Brexit vote to leave EU

Anti-Semitic hate crime in the ten boroughs of Greater Manchester has noticeably increased since Britain voted to leave the European Union on June 23 last year, MM can reveal.

Since the Brexit vote there have been 152 incidents of anti-Semitic hate crime across Greater Manchester, while close to 60% of all anti-Semitic hate crime committed in 2016 took place after June 23.

Stockport has seen a 90% rise in anti-Semitic hate crime, while significant spikes have also appeared in Trafford, Wigan and Rochdale.  

The figures were revealed thanks to an FOI request, by MM, to Greater Manchester Police. 

GMP defined ‘hate crime’ as any criminal offence which is perceived by the victim or any other person to be motivated by hostility or prejudice based on a person’s characteristics or perceived characteristics.

The table below shows the total numbers of anti-Semitic hate crime committed in 2016 against the number committed after the Brexit vote (June 23 onwards) across the ten boroughs of Greater Manchester.

Trafford has seen a 77% rise in the levels of anti-Semitic hate crime committed, with Rochdale and Wigan both seeing rises of 67%.

On the surface the numbers seem low but when related to the amount of crimes committed in these places over the past five years it is a striking increase. The map below displays the number of ant-Semitic hate crimes recorded in the last five years  in each of the ten Greater Manchester boroughs.

Over the past five years 80% of anti-Semitic hate crime has been committed in Salford, Bury and North Manchester.

This makes the 2016 figures even more startling. A third of all anti-Semitic hate crimes committed in Trafford over the past five years took place after Brexit and almost 50% in Stockport.

Speaking to MM, The Jewish Representative Council said that there was no perceptible increase in anti-Semitic hate incidents specifically caused by Brexit, but they consider there to have been an overall increase in the last 20 years.

Figures from the past five years have shown a significant rise in the levels of anti-Semitic hate crime from 2014 and have plateaued at that level since 2015.

It remains unclear whether the levels will continue to increase this year, over the course of the intense Brexit negotiations between the United Kingdom and the European Union.

The rising levels of anti-Semitic have been condemned by Bury South MP Ivan Lewis and Labour’s Shadow Business Secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey.

Mrs Long-Bailey said: “As recent figures across Greater Manchester demonstrate, the threat of violence to the Jewish community is a real one and we must co-operate together across political parties, community groups and faith organisations to counteract it urgently.

“I am resolute in my view that all cases of reported antisemitism need to be confronted robustly for what they are and as such I am a member of the All Party Parliamentary Group against Anti-Semitism.”

Main image courtesy of Ernst Moeksis, with thanks.