Libertarian Party Home Affairs Spokesman, Dan Liddicott, has called for the category of hate crime “to be abolished” and for a “back to basics” approach to policing, as vital police resources are misdirected from tackling real crime to recording incidents which are not crimes.

“Police are being taken away from their most vital work tackling real crime and wasting time recording non-crime incidents” said Dan Liddicott, Libertarian Party Home Affairs spokesman.

“Consequently trust in police is falling while violent crime is on the increase.

“Mayor Sadiq Kahn has put London on notice for a 10 year wait to bring their record levels of knife crime under control while reporting of ‘hate crime’ continues to rise forcing police to spend time taking reports of minor incidents, that are not even crimes, instead of dealing with more urgent matters.

“Recently an elderly woman was questioned under caution for ‘honking her horn’ at someone being slow in a petrol station purely because the incident was reported as a hate crime. This type of mis-prioritisation is wasting police resources and allowing other crime to flourish.

“It’s time for the category of hate crime to be abolished so police can get back to basics.”