Hate crimes rise on East Ayrshire trains as MSP expresses concern

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Hate crimes being reported on East Ayrshire trains are on the rise according to new figures.East Ayrshire has seen the biggest rise of reported hate crimes in 2019/20 with a shocking 110 reports made, which is six up from the previous year.

However, it has the lowest reported hate crimes figures overall for all of the Ayrshire area. Meanwhile, North Ayrshire and South Ayrshire have seen a slight decrease in reported hate crimes.North Ayrshire had a total of 135 reported hate crimes in 2019/20, five fewer reported crimes since 2018/19.

But despite the decrease, North Ayrshire still has the highest number of reported hate crimes in the region.North Ayrshire's lowest reported year of 115 was in 2016/17.South Ayrshire has the lowest reported hate crime figures for Ayrshire, sitting at 71 for 2019/20 which saw a massive drop of 30 fewer reported hate crimes from the previous year.The Scottish Government data revealed that since 2017/18 the number of hate crime incidents on trains on the basis of sexuality increased from 24 to 36 in 2021/22 (from April 21 to Jan 2022) – a 50 per cent increase.West Scotland MSP Jamie Greene has expressed his concern over the 676 reported hate crimes since 2017.Jamie Greene raised the increase directly with the Scottish Government’s Minister for Transport in the Holyrood chamber.

Speaking to Jenny Gilruth, the Minister for Transport, in Holyrood chambers Mr Greene stated: "In the past five years, 676 instances of hate crime have been reported on our trains, and a third of them were directed towards those in the LGBT community."Responding, Jenny Gilruth spoke about how she plans to tackle the issue of hate crimes on trains.