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Rise in hate crimes against disabled

Police figures show jump of 140% but campaigners say real figures could be much higher and call for action to reduce transgender hate crime

Greater Manchester Police have reported a rise in hate crimes with trans and disability hate crime seeing the highest rise compared to national average.

A total of 4,102 hate crimes were reported in 2014/2015, with disability being up 140% compared to the previous year.

Oldham in particular has seen a continuous rise after disability hate crime doubled in the previous year, showing that little has been done to prevent hate crime in the area.

hate crime manchester trans
Disability shows the largest rise in attacks

Debbie Abrahams, MP for Oldham East and Shadow Minister for Disabled, said that the number of victims could actually be significantly higher, according to Mancunian Matters.

"The co-ordinator of the Disability Hate Crime Network has said that reported crimes underestimate the true scale of the problem as there is significant under-reporting,” she is reported as saying.

These figures follow the report that hate crime is up 18% in the UK, with many still being underreported.