HATE crime has reached record levels in Cheshire, new figures reveal.

The latest Home Office show Cheshire Police recorded 1,684 total hate crimes in 2018-19. Figures show this has increased by almost 45 per cent from 2016-17 when the force recorded a total of 1,165 crimes.

Recent figures show that most hate crime on record across the county is documented as racially aggravated with 1,078 incidents – accounting for 64 per cent of all reports.

There is also a noticeable spike after 2016 – the year of the hugely divisive Brexit referendum and the election of right-wing US President Donald Trump.

Figures are also broken down by incidents where an individual is targeted due to religion, sexual orientation, disability or being transgender.

Homophobic crimes in Cheshire have increased year-on-year – with the data showing that numbers have more than doubled since 2016 from 148 reports to 312 in 2018.

Crimes against transgender people have almost tripled – from 18 incidents in 2016 to 45 in 2018.

A similar trend in figures arose from crimes targeting disabled people – which rose from 107 in 2016 to 186 in 2018.

Commenting on the figures for Cheshire Constabulary, Inspector Lindsay Dixon said: “Cheshire Constabulary figures are in line with the national trend in showing an increase in hate crime.

"This is the result of a combination of accurate crime recording and more people having confidence in the police and reporting more crimes directly to us.

"There are still sections of the community where hate crime is under reported and we are driving this message through regular training and support with our third party reporting centres which sit within the communities of Cheshire.

"The majority of hate crime in Cheshire is committed through lack of understanding of the impact of people’s words and actions on others.

"Again we are working with schools, young people and using community resolutions where education can be the key to returning to community cohesion.”