COUNCILLORS have vowed to continue to monitor hate crime figures after learning of a spike in incidents following last year's EU referendum.

As reported in the Echo, members of Dorset County Council's people and communities overview and scrutiny committee were presented with a report showing that the number of racially or religiously aggravated crimes reported rose last July following the Brexit vote.

In Weymouth and Portland there were six racially or religiously aggravated crimes reported in July compared to just two in both April and May and three in June.

There were also four reported in Purbeck compared to none in each of the previous three months.

There were also seven reported hate flagged crimes reported in Weymouth and Portland last July, compared to a total of five in the preceding three months combined.

The committee was told that since the referendum the figures had also declined, suggesting a spike linked to the vote.

Some councillors did suggest that the spike in July could be attributed to visitors to the county in the summer months, however Bridport councillor Ros Kayes dismissed this suggested.

She alerted councillors to two incidents in her local area, one where a couple with Down's Syndrome accosted in Bridport and told by a man in the wake of the Leave vote that ‘We can now get rid of people like you’ and another in Beaminster, police were called after a Union Jack flag was flown with "offensive wording" written on it.

Cllr Kayes said: "I don't think we can blame this on holidaymakers."

She said the council needs to look at what it is asking the police to do to address concerns raised and added the council should be engaging with local organisations and schools to offer support and educate people.

Cllr Kayes added: "I was absolutely appalled by what happened in this country post-Brexit in terms of the escalation and it's great that it's now gone down.

"We need to keep it monitored and we need to see what action is taken on it."

Members agreed to hold an information event to pull together all the work that was being done to combat hate crime in the county and requested further reports to prove the escalation in hate-related incidents was not an upward trend.

Inspector Pete Browning, of Weymouth and Portland police, said: "We always take reports of hate crime extremely seriously and will fully investigate and deal with any incidents robustly.

"In line with the national picture, Dorset did see a slight increase in reported incidents following the EU referendum.

"However, it is important to remember that while any incidents of hate crime are unacceptable, the statistics that have been quoted are very low in numbers.

"I would also like to point out that comparison of such statistics should be like-for-like.

"To exclude Bournemouth and Poole and only compare Weymouth and Portland with more rural areas in Dorset is always going to provide flawed data.

"The comparison of incidents reported in July – in one of our busiest tourist seasons – with the quieter months of April and September is also misleading.

"We believe hate crime still remains under-reported and we encourage anyone who may have been a victim to contact police so we can take action and provide support. Dorset Police will respond robustly to any incidents.

"Tackling hate crime is a priority for the force and we are working with our communities and partners to eradicate it."