MORE than 3,000 hate crimes and incidents were reported to police on either side of the EU referendum — a leap of 42 per cent over last year.

Anti-immigrant scaremongering during the campaign saw a peak of 289 alleged offences on June 25, the day after the referendum result was announced.

The National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) stats published yesterday cover England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Forces were asked to disclose weekly numbers after a slew of reports sparked concerns of a wave of xenophobic and racial abuse in the wake of the referendum.

The 3,076 in the second half of June was up 915 on the year before.

The NPCC said the main type of offence reported over the fortnight was “violence against the person,” which includes harassment and common assault as well as verbal abuse, spitting and “barging.”

The second and third most prevalent incidents were public order offences and criminal damage.

The NPCC said that since this point there has been a marked decrease in reports but weekly figures will continue to be collated to allow them to monitor the situation.

Assistant Chief Constable Mark Hamilton, NPCC lead for hate crime, said: “We now have a clear indication of the increases in the reporting of hate crime nationally and can see that there has been a sharp rise in recent weeks.

“This is unacceptable and it undermines the diversity and tolerance we should instead be celebrating.

“Forces have been monitoring and managing hate crime more robustly since the attacks in Paris in 2015. We believe that greater awareness and confidence in the police response has contributed to this increase in reporting.”

Mr Hamilton said forces have heightened their response to hate crimes over the last 10 days.