At a glance
• Former Tory mayoral candidate Susan Hall suggested that some victims of hate crime should ‘toughen up’, arguing that police resources are limited and that people should develop more resilience to minor abuse
• Labour politicians and hate crime experts condemned her remarks as lacking empathy, warning that they trivialise the serious emotional and social impacts of hate crime
• The debate occurred amid ongoing concerns about hate crime on London’s public transport; Transport for London recorded 1,268 hate crimes in the first half of 2025
A row has broken out after Susan Hall, the former Tory mayoral candidate, suggested that some victims of hate crime needed to “toughen up”.
