Chuka Umunna: Donald Trump and Brexiteers to blame for rise in hate crime across West

The Labour MP said politicians whipping up anger has directly led to 'serious consequences'

Labour MP Chuka Umunna (AFP)

Senior Labour MP Chuka Umunna has said Brexiteers in the UK and Donald Trump in America bear responsibility for a rise in hate crime on both sides of the Atlantic.

Writing exclusively for The Independent, Mr Umunna compared Leave supporters to Mr Trump and his allies, accusing them all of creating "post truth politics" that whips-up anger against foreigners and the democratic system.

It follows unprecedented attacks on the judiciary following last week’s Brexit court judgement and claims from Mr Trump that the US election has been rigged.

Speaking as US voters go to the polls to decide whether Republican Mr Trump or Democratic candidate Hilary Clinton becomes the next President, he said: "Whether on the Left or the Right, almost all politicians accept certain rules of the game and the rule of law – such as the independence of the judiciary and the inviolability of election results – but not so Trump and his Brexiteer friends in the UK."

He went on to say that their "anger and rejection of moderate, fact-based argument" had already had serious consequences.

Mr Umunna wrote: "In Britain, the level of hate crimes committed rose 49 per cent higher than normal levels in the weeks after the referendum vote.

"The Commissioner of London’s Metropolitan Police himself said there was a ‘spike’ in such crimes after the vote.

"The rise of Trumpism has likewise been accompanied by acts that one would have hoped would have passed into the history books, such as the burning of a black church in Mississippi last week."

The Streatham MP, seen as a potential future Labour leader, added: "When passions are whipped up against foreigners, against so-called elites, when the legitimacy of the political process is called into question – these actions have consequences."

At the start of the month a black church in Mississippi was burned and vandalised with pro-Donald Trump graffiti, in what authorities described as a "hateful and heinous act".

Meanwhile, reported hate crime in the UK has risen leading to the issue being raised in Parliament by foreign diplomats.

French Ambassador Sylvie Bermann said many of the 300,000 French nationals in the UK, including highly-skilled workers, are now reassessing their future in Britain after some had suffered abuse following the Brexit vote.

Leave campaigners were directly accused of racism after unveiling the infamous "breaking point" poster during the referendum campaign, depicting a queue of migrants and refugees supposedly trying to get into the country.