Home Secretary Suella Braverman has today challenged a police force over a trans ‘hate crime‘ poster encouraging people to report incidents of ‘deadnaming’.
The poster, shared out by Leicestershire Police, encourages people who are transgender to make a report when people purposely use their previous name.
Responding to the force’s Tweet, the cabinet minister, a qualified barrister, said she believed police forces were ‘confused’ over what constitutes a ‘hate crime’.
Ms Braverman also accused the force of ‘undermining’ confidence’ in policing by spending resources on ‘politically correct’ campaigns – saying officers should be ‘fighting actual crimes’.
And in a veiled threat, the Tory minister said senior officers who sanction such campaigns will have to personally explain them to her.
Sharing an image of Leicester Police’s Tweet, she said: ‘This week I have seen confusion amongst police forces about what constitutes a ‘hate crime’.
‘The police need to enforce actual laws and fight actual crimes. Freedom of speech must be protected and a proportionate approach must be taken.
New Home Secretary Suella Braverman (pictured arriving at Downing Street on Monday) has today challenged a police force over a trans ‘hate crime’ poster encouraging people to report incidents of ‘deadnaming’
The poster (pictured), by Leicestershire Police, encourages trans people to make a report when people purposely use their previous name
Responding to the force’s Tweet (pictured: The Tweet by Ms Braverman), the cabinet minister said she believed police forces were ‘confused’ over what constitutes a ‘hate crime’
‘The public need to have confidence in their police forces. This sort of thing undermines it.
‘Senior police officers who allow this to happen can expect to have to explain to me why they’re spending vital resources on politically correct campaigns.’
It comes after Leicestershire Police’s Stay Safe Twitter account, which is shared between the force’s Crime Reduction Officers and its Hate Crime Officers, shared an image encouraging people to report incidents of ‘deadnaming’.
Deadnaming is the act of referring to a transgender person by the name they previously used before they transitioned into another gender.
In the Tweet, the account said: ‘You can report #HateCrime via Stamp It Out.’
The Tweet then shared an image of a transgender person, named Jane, 57, from Hinkley, who said: ‘I get called my previous male name on purpose, but that’s not who I am.
‘It can be really hurtful, especially when it’s just seen as a joke.’
There are no specific homophobic, biphobic or transphobic hate crimes in UK law.
But any criminal offence can be judged a hate crime if it is proved that a person committed an offence because of prejudice or hostility to LGBT people.
A court will need evidence that the offender did show prejudice, malice and ill will, for example, because of what was said.
According to CPS, hate crimes are an incident or criminal offence which is ‘perceived, by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by a hostility or prejudice based on a person’s sexual orientation or perceived sexual orientation’.
It can also be any incident or criminal offence which is ‘perceived, by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by a hostility or prejudice against a person who is transgender or perceived to be transgender’.
Cases where it is proved that an offence was committed or motivated by prejudice can result in an uplift in a person’s sentence.
It comes after Ms Braverman, who took over as Home Secretary from Priti Patel last month, also took police to task over their dealings with climate change and vegan activists.
It comes after Leicestershire Police’s Stay Safe Twitter account, which is shared between the force’s Crime Reduction Officers and its Hate Crime Officers, shared an image encouraging people to report incidents of ‘deadnaming’
Ms Braverman labelled the climate activists, who have been behind a number of high-profile demonstrations in recent weeks, ‘so-called protesters’ and added that ‘democracies reach decisions in a civilised manner.’
She also lambasted the protesters for their ‘imagined right to bully’ the rest of the public, adding: ‘Who do they think they are?’
Her criticism wasn’t just reserved for the activists themselves, she also issued a stark warning to the police: ‘I also expect the Metropolitan Police to do a better job of cracking down on these thugs and vandals – as does the public.’
It followed a 15th successive day of protests by Just Stop Oil, who blocked roads in central London again today, and more protests by vegan activists Animal Rebellion which included pouring milk on the floor and meat counters in luxury shops such as Fortnum and Mason.
Responding to Ms Braverman’s Tweet, Leicestershire Police’s Temporary Chief Constable Rob Nixon said: ‘Over the past week, a number of social media posts were issued on our Leicestershire Police Stay Safe account aiming to raise awareness of hate crime. This was as part of National Hate Crime Awareness Week.
‘While we recognise that people have strong and often conflicting views regarding this issue, we should not forget the seriousness of hate crime and the devastating crimes that as a country we have seen in the past which have happened as a result of hate crime.
‘Hate crimes are acts of violence or hostility directed at people because of who they are. Hate crime law in England and Wales have developed in various phases over the past two decades and the law recognises five protected characteristics; race, religion, disability, sexual orientation or transgender identity.
‘As a force, like all other forces, our priority is to prevent and detect crime. This includes raising awareness of different crimes, the impact these crimes can have and informing where victims of these crimes can report the offence and access support. Hate crime laws have been introduced following tragic incidents and are part of legislation. It is vitally important that we raise awareness of hate crime and work together to stop it from happening.
‘We are however aware that during our hate crime awareness campaign there have been a significant number of comments relating to some of the posts. I am sorry that our posts may have caused some upset. I know that was not the intention of our communications team who I know are committed to helping the force to prevent and detect crime and to raise awareness.
‘To clarify in relation to the posts, the images used were stock images obtained by the team. The source of those images had been considered to be reliable and the words on the posts were provided by an experienced police staff member who has significant knowledge of the different types of hate crime people can be and have been subjected to.
‘Having examined the posts I believe we as a force should have made clear that the images were stock images and that the names given were fictitious for illustration purposes. For completeness, I am also having a scenario presented checked against current national hate crime recording policy.
‘As a result, we have now removed the posts and will be reviewing how we use stock images and raise awareness of hate crime going forward. However, I do ask that people please remember the importance of the message which the posts related to – that hate crime is impactive and an offence and together we should be working to ‘Stamp it Out’.
Suella Braverman is set to restrict number of foreign students who can stay in UK after finishing their studies
By Oliver Price for MailOnline
The Home Secretary is set to restrict the total number of foreign students who can remain living in the UK after graduating from university to slash immigration numbers.
Suella Braverman, who was appointed to the role by Prime Minister Liz Truss, has committed to cut immigration and ‘substantially reduce’ the number of unskilled foreign workers coming to Britain, from 239,000 to the ‘tens of thousands’.
But she also wants to reduce the numbers of international students who can apply for a graduate post-study work visa, which allows any student who has passed their degree to remain and work in the UK for at least two years.
The Home Office are considering restricting visa applications only to those who have completed studied in high-demand subject areas, such as engineering, the Times reports.
But university bosses have slammed the Home Secretary’s plan, saying it sent a message ‘that the UK is unwelcoming and hostile to international students’ who make bring £25.9 billion per year to the UK economy through fees and spending.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman (pictured) is set to restrict the total number of foreign students who can remain living in the UK after graduating from university to slash immigration numbers
Graduate visas were reintroduced in July last year after then-Home Secretary Theresa May scrapped them in 2012, reducing the length of time recent graduates can stay in the country to just four months.
Since the the new scheme was introduced, 66,211 international students have been granted the right to remain in the UK – 99 per cent of a total 66,787 applications.
Nearly half of all granted visas were given to Indian nationals, at a total of 28,331 (43 per cent), 7,771 (12 per cent) were granted to Nigerian students, and 6,599 (10 per cent) were granted to Chinese graduates.
Indian students are also the largest group of migrants to overstay their visas. Ms Braverman has said she wants to reduce the number of foreign students studying at British universities after a record high of 486,000 visas were granted last year.
An open letter to Ms Braverman signed by the chief executives of four groups which represent over 150 British universities – Universities UK , GuildHE, MillionPlus and University Alliance – have been heavily criticised her proposals.
They said that international students are the source of nearly 70 per cent of the UK’s education export earnings and bring an average financial benefits of £390 per person across the country – saying that increased international student numbers were a ‘resounding success for the government and something to be celebrated’.
‘The negative rhetoric suggesting a need to reduce international student numbers is unhelpful and counterproductive,’ the letter to the Home Secretary said.
‘It stands to directly impact on the continued success of one of the UK’s premier export industries and restrict economic growth.
‘Such rhetoric is also quickly reported on around the world, sending a message overseas that the UK is unwelcoming and hostile to international students.
‘That is why we would urge the government to restate its commitment to the ambitions set out in the International Education Strategy and to avoid language that suggests international students and their dependants may be unwelcome in the UK.’