Donald Trump sparks fury from Brits after saying that crime has soared by 13 per cent in UK because of ‘radical Islamic terror’
DONALD TRUMP was blasted by Brits today after he suggested that the UK is in the middle of a terror-related crime wave.
The US President tweeted about the recent rise in recorded crime - and suggested that it was due to "radical Islamic terror".
He faced an instant backlash from angry Brits as one MP said he should "fix gun control" rather than attacking the UK.
Mr Trump sent his controversial tweet at 6.30am US time today.
He wrote: "Just out report: 'United Kingdom crime rises 13% annually amid spread of Radical Islamic terror.' Not good, we must keep America safe!"
The message was a reference to data from the Office for National Statistics released yesterday which revealed police have recorded 13 per cent more crimes this year than the year before.
The same statistic had been reported on right-wing news channel OANN just six minutes before Mr Trump's tweet.
But the official figures partly excluded the victims of terror attacks in Manchester and London, meaning there is no link between the stats and recent outbreaks of jihadist terrorism.
Yvette Cooper, chair of the Home Affairs select committee, said today: "Hate crime in the UK has gone up by almost 30 per cent and rubbish like this tweet from Donald Trump is designed to provoke even more of it.
"It is appalling that we have reached the point where inflammatory and ignorant statements from the President of the United States are now seen as normal. If we are to properly tackle hate crime and every other crime, we have to challenge this kind of nonsense.”
Lib Dem deputy leader Jo Swinson blasted the President, saying: "Stop misleading and spreading fear.
"Hate crime is up and it is fuelled by the kind of populist xenophobia you peddle."
Mike Gapes, a Labour MP, joked: "Dear President Trump. It appears that some stupid fool has hacked into your Twitter account."
And Tory MP Nicholas Soames suggested that Mr Trump should concentrate on America's problems, tweeting to him: "#thenfixguncontrolyoudafttwerp".
Green party leader Caroline Lucas called on Theresa May to "publicly condemn" the President despite the warm relations between them.
She wrote on Twitter: "OK @theresa_may, this is a test. Will you publicly condemn this outright fearmongering?"
Labour's Chris Bryant added: "Can you please stick out of our business with such divisiveness? You clearly don't understand difference between causation and correlation."
Security expert Shashank Joshi said the new data were "nothing whatsoever to do with Islamist terrorism".
A total of 5.2million crimes were recorded in England and Wales over the year to June, up from 4.6million the year before.
The ONS said the 13 per cent rise was partly explained by a genuine rise in crimes and partly by improvements in how offences get recorded by police.
Mr Trump has repeatedly angered British politicians by using terror attacks on the UK to support his nationalist domestic agenda.
In the wake of the assault on London Bridge in June, the President took aim at Sadiq Khan, tweeting: "At least 7 dead and 48 wounded in terror attack and Mayor of London says there is ‘no reason to be alarmed!"
And after the botched bomb attack on the tube last month, he claimed that it was carried out by "sick and demented people who were in the sights of Scotland Yard" - leading to a rebuke from Mrs May.
The PM is keen to stay close to Mr Trump in order to strike a post-Brexit trade deal between Britain and the US.
She was the first world leader to visit him in the White House after he took office in January this year, and immediately invited him to come to the UK on a state visit hosted by the Queen.
But the state visit has been repeatedly delayed after Mr Trump expressed concern he could face mass protests in Britain.
