Politicians and papers 'fuel rise' in racist attacks across UK

The UK is not doing enough to tackle a rise in racist attacks - with newspapers and politicians partly to blame, according to a new report.

Human rights experts from the Council in Europe in Strasbourg say new laws are needed to tackle racism and discrimination.

Although the Council of Europe is separate from the EU, its criticism and a call for stronger UK ties to the European Convention on Human Rights is unlikely to be welcomed by campaigners pushing for a swift exit from Europe.

The report, published by the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI), said Brexit "seems to have led to a further rise in 'anti-foreigner' sentiment" against what it claims is a backdrop of rising Islamophobia and anti-Semitism.

The commission said a particularly high number of violent racist incidents occurred in 2013 when there was a sharp rise in anti-Muslim violence, while anti-Semitic incidents reached the highest level ever recorded in 2014.

Christian Ahlund, the chair of the watchdog, said: "It is no coincidence that racist violence is on the rise in the UK at the same time as we see worrying examples of intolerance and hate speech in the newspapers, online and even among politicians.

The report also said there are "significant gaps" between equality law in Britain and in Northern Ireland, and pointed to the absence of a national strategy for the integration of Roma, Gypsies and Travellers in the UK.

A number of positive developments were cited in the study, however.

The Commission welcomed the Equality Act 2010 coming into force, and said the UK has generally strong legislation against racism and racial discrimination.

The Government launched a new action plan to tackle hate crime in July.