Ministers could be forced to abolish non-crime hate incidents after a former Scotland Yard chief tabled amendments to the law in the House of Lords.
Lord Bernard Hogan-Howe and Lord Toby Young of Acton, director of the Free Speech Union, launched efforts to change the Crime and Policing Bill that would stop requiring police to record NCHIs.
Their move is understood to have received the backing of dozens of crossbenchers in addition to the Conservatives, which means it has a good chance of succeeding, The Times reports .
It would abolish NCHIs as a special category of incident that must be logged by officers.
Lord Hogan-Howe, who led the Metropolitan Police between 2011 and 2017, backed a report calling for their axe earlier this year, saying: “Whether something is a crime is an objective statutory test.
“Whether something is a non-crime hate incident is a subjective test based on guidance - producing inconsistent outcomes.”
His successor as Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley also called for changes in the wake of a row over the arrest of Father Ted writer Graham Linehan for comments about trans people made online.
He said: “I don’t believe we should be policing toxic culture wars debates and officers are currently in an impossible position.”
Speaking in the Lords on Thursday, Lord Young said: “To begin with, the police should not be put in the invidious position of having to record what are often vexatious, politically motivated complaints, which inevitably undermines public confidence in them.
FSU Director Lord Young of Acton spoke at the Second Reading of the Crime and Policing Bill this afternoon, saying he will be tabling an amendment to the Bill scrapping non-crime hate incidents. The amendment will be co-sponsored by Lord Hogan-Howe, the former Met Police… pic.twitter.com/1W9dc1Om45
— The Free Speech Union (@SpeechUnion) October 16, 2025
“As the judge said when he found for Harry Miller, an ex-policeman who challenged an NCHI recorded against him in the High Court: 'In this country we have never had a Cheka, a Gestapo or a Stasi. We have never lived in an Orwellian society.
“You may think: What does it matter if an NCHI is recorded against someone? The answer is they can then show up in an enhanced DBS checks and stop you getting jobs where such a check is required, eg as a carer or a teacher.”
