RACIAL and religious hate crime soared by 41 per cent in the immediate aftermath of the EU referendum, official figures showed yesterday.

The figures come as a newly published Home Office report showed that the overall number of hate crimes logged by forces in England and Wales in 2015/16 increased by 19 per cent, with 62,518 offences recorded — a rate of around 170 every day.

The main focus of the study was hate crimes recorded between April 2015 and March 2016, but it also included a section specifically examining the period around the EU referendum on June 23.

Data from 31 police forces showed that in the two weeks up to and including the day of the referendum, forces recorded 1,546 racially or religiously aggravated offences.

But the Home Office played down the figures and said those published last year showed an overall decrease in hate crimes and that the increase was rather due to increased reporting.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd said: “Hatred has no place in a Britain that works for everyone and we are determined to stamp it out.”

Ironically Ms Rudd was herself accused of stirring up xenophobia earlier this month following her rabidly anti-immigration speech at the Tory conference in Birmingham and forced to back-track on a number of draconian policy proposals.

Labour’s shadow home secretary Diane Abbott MP said: “It is clear the effect the EU referendum campaign has had in fuelling a worrying rise in hate crime.

“The government has recently published its action plan. But its own policies and rhetoric have responsibility in this area.

“From go-home vans to naming and shaming firms who employ overseas workers, to a foreigner-free NHS this is a government whose policies are contributing to this climate of hate.”