Sadiq Khan pledges taskforce to tackle ‘deeply worrying’ TfL hate crime rise

Sadiq Khan has pledged to create a transport taskforce to tackle the “deeply worrying” rise in hate crime against Jewish and Muslim passengers on London’s public transport.

The Labour mayor – who is campaigning for a record third term at City Hall – unveiled the Transport Hate Crime Taskforce at a community breakfast with the London Jewish Forum.

It comes alongside a £250,000 funding injection for groups addressing hate following the Hamas terror attacks and a spike in antisemitic and Islamophobic hate incidents in London. 

Khan said: “No part of London should feel unsafe or unwelcoming to any Londoner, especially our busy transport network. 

“There has been a deeply worrying rise in antisemitic and Islamophobic hate crime in London since October 7, and we need to do everything we possibly can to address this.” 

The taskforce will see community representatives and transport chiefs meet to highlight areas of concern and share improvements to safety measures to stamp out hate incidents.

The project, which is also aimed at helping police address violence against women and girls (VAWG), could see interventions including: better lighting and CCTV; faster rapid response teams for inappropriate or racist vandalism; and more visible transport staff and police.

Khan added: “We need to be even more proactive in preventing incidents happening in the first place and targeting the worst hotspots. This will always be a priority for me as mayor.

“There must never be any complacency when it comes to fighting hate crime across our city.”

Labour said the announcement followed the Community Security Trust’s (CST) antisemitism report which found there were 4,103 instances of anti-Jewish hate recorded in the UK in 2023 – the highest annual total ever reported to CST and a 589 per cent increase. 

Over 170 incidents were reported on London tubes and buses, they said, while Tell MAMA, which measures anti-Muslim hate, saw 2,010 cases since October 7, with 500 in London.

Work is already underway to address concerns from Jewish community groups over safety in Finsbury Park, between Stamford Hill and Golders Green, with extra patrols in place and additional CCTV at Finsbury Park station, sending real-time footage to the Met and TfL.

The £250,000 funding will build on successful work with the Community Alliance to Combat Hate (CATCH) partnership and the Shared Endeavour Fund, Labour added.

CATCH includes eight organisations supporting victims of hate crime, including: CST, Tell MAMA, and Galop – who focus on victims of LGBTQI+ hate crime.

Conservative candidate Susan Hall said: “This is wholly inadequate for the scale of the problem and it has clearly been rushed together just before the election.

“Sadiq Khan failed to lead the police properly for eight years, leaving hate crime perpetrators with no reason to fear the police.

“He’s not listening to Londoners, but I am. I will put police officers back in communities by bringing back borough-based policing, and deploy more officers to areas where hate crimes have surged.”