Home Office to spend £250m on protecting Jewish communities in England and Wales

More than £250m will be invested by the government to increase policing in Jewish communities after a spate of violent attacks, the Home Office has announced.

The funding over the next three years will deliver more than 500 additional officers across England and Wales in Jewish neighbourhoods and around schools, synagogues and community centres, while strengthening national counter-terrorism capabilities.

The funding will cover about 300 additional officers in London and 80 in Greater Manchester, while £43m will go to forces serving other areas with significant Jewish populations.

The package will continue Project Servator, deploying specialist and plainclothes officers trained to identify suspicious behaviour.

The outgoing prime minister, Keir Starmer, said: “The rise in antisemitism we have seen in recent years is a test of our values as a country and tackling it has been central to my leadership from day one.

“That is why earlier this year I brought together leaders from business, education, health, policing and civil society at Downing Street to drive a coordinated response across every corner of our society.

“We have also taken action across government to protect Jewish communities, tackle antisemitism in schools, universities and public services and strengthen our response to extremism and hate, including online.

“Today’s funding builds on that work – delivering a step-change in protection and policing so Jewish communities can live and celebrate their faith free from fear.”

Russell Langer, director of public affairs at the Jewish Leadership Council, said: “This is an important step in ensuring increased protection for Jewish communities in the UK.

“Security and policing alone cannot address the fact that anti-Jewish hatred remains at record levels in modern Britain. Ensuring Jewish communities can live openly and without fear requires sustained effort, leadership and action.

“We will continue to work with government and law enforcement to ensure communities receive the protection they need.”

Greater Manchester police will receive more than £22m to sustain the increase in policing presence after the terrorist attack at a synagogue in Heaton Park last October, while about £43m will be distributed across seven other force areas: Hertfordshire, Essex, Northumbria, Sussex, Thames Valley, West Midlands and West Yorkshire.

Karen Newman, the vice-president of the Board of Deputies, said: “We warmly welcome the government’s announcement of this major investment in policing to protect the Jewish community, and we are grateful for the commitment and work of all in government, from prime minister Sir Keir Starmer down, to ensure our safety.

“Protection is one element of the response we called for after the recent wave of antisemitic violence, alongside prosecution of those inciting hatred, and partnership to tackle antisemitic extremism.”

The national terror threat level was raised from substantial to severe in May after a series of attacks. The number of antisemitic hate crimes recorded in April in London was the highest in two years, police figures showed.

In March, four ambulances from Hatzola, a volunteer-led service operating in the Golders Green area of north London, were set on fire in an arson attack. In the following month, two Jewish men were stabbed in Golders Green in an attack that police declared a terrorist incident.

Last October, two people were killed and three injured after a car ramming and stabbing attack outside the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation synagogue in Manchester.