The UK Home Office [official website] announced on Sunday that prosecutors will be encouraged to use tougher sentences against hate crimes in response to the nation’s increasingly hostile environment since the EU referendum. Since the middle of June over 6,000 hate crimes and incidents have been reported [BBC report] to the authorities, and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) [official website] has also seen a record breaking increase in prosecutions for “violence against the person.” The Home Office has denounced recent racially and religiously influenced hostilities, and the department now urges prosecutors to use the law to seek harsher penalties for such crimes. The department hopes that such a change will increase confidence in the CPS. The Home Office also hopes to increase support for recently targeted groups and is making efforts to increase protections for public transport users and Muslim women. The Home Office will dedicate £2.4m to the protection of places of worship.

A majority of British citizens voted to leave [JURIST report] the European Union (EU) [official website] last month. Concern over the economic health of Britain [Reuters report] going into the future led to a global market plunge following the vote, as the pound fell as far as 10 percent against the US dollar—a low not seen since 1985. While the vote has fallen in favor of departure, no legal changes have taken place yet [Guardian report], as Britain must take further steps to confirm its separation. However, Britain’s leading public-interest law firm as well as several experienced litigators are currently drafting [JURIST report] a legal challenge to at least trigger a parliamentary debate. Earlier this month, the UK government rejected a petition [JURIST report] calling for a second referendum vote to prevent the UK from leaving the EU. The EU has set out a mechanism for leaving in Article 50 [text] of the Lisbon Treaty, where a member state “may decide to withdraw from the union in accordance with its own constitutional requirements,” and “must notify the European council of its intention.” Under Article 50, a member country can only be removed from the EU two years after notification. While Britain might bypass this process through repeal of the European Communities Act of 1972, it is believed that this would make coming to a preferential trade agreement with the EU more difficult.