House of Lords Votes to Scrap Non-Crime Hate Incidents – Piling Pressure on Starmer

The House of Lords has voted to scrap non-crime hate incidents (NCHIs) in a move that puts pressure on Sir Keir Starmer to end their use. The Telegraph has the story.

Peers voted by a 227 to 221 majority to bar police forces from recording, retaining or otherwise processing any personal data relating to NCHIs.

The amendment to the Government’s policing bill would only allow incidents to be recorded where it was required to prevent or detect a crime.

The proposal was put forward by Lord Young, Director of the Free Speech Union, and Lord Hogan-Howe, the former Met Police commissioner, who is chairing the Government’s independent review into cutting the number of police forces.

It coincides with plans by the College of Policing and National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) to recommend scrapping NCHIs, following warnings that recording them undermines freedom of speech and diverts officers from fighting crime.

Police chiefs want to replace them with a new “common sense” system, where only a small fraction of such incidents would be recorded under the most serious category of anti-social behaviour.

It follows high-profile cases such as Graham Linehan, the Father Ted creator, whose arrest over a series of posts on X was criticised by Donald Trump’s State Department as a “departure from democracy”.

The plans by police chiefs are set to be handed later this month to Shabana Mahmood, the Home Secretary, who has signalled her support based on that officers should be policing “streets not tweets”.

An NCHI is defined as an incident that falls short of being criminal but is perceived to be motivated by hostility or prejudice towards a person with a particular characteristic.

However, Lord Young said: “Examples include a man accused of whistling the theme tune to Bob the Builder whenever he saw his neighbour, a woman who said on social media she thought her cat was a Methodist and two schoolgirls who told another girl she smelled like fish.

“It’s hard not to laugh, but for the people who’ve had NCHIs recorded against them, it’s no laughing matter. If you apply for a position or a voluntary role that requires you to carry out an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service check, an NCHI can show up on your record.

“That’s why I say NCHIs have a chilling effect on free speech. People are rightly concerned that if they say something that another person takes offence at, it can permanently blot their copybook and may prevent them getting a job as a teacher or a carer, or volunteering at a charity like the Samaritans.

“There’s also the broader concern that the amount of time the police are spending on investigating and recording ‘non-crimes’ is undermining public confidence in the police.”

Worth reading in full.