Baroness Warsi Warns Of Post-Brexit Racism

Baroness Warsi, the former government minister and co-Chair of the Conservative party, has warned that the fall-out from the EU Referendum appears to be causing a rise in the number of racist incidents on British streets. Warsi, the first Muslim woman to become a Cabinet minister, originally supported the Leave campaign but switched her allegiances to Remain during the week before Thursday's referendum because she felt Vote Leave had become "racist" and "xenophobic". Speaking on Sky News, Warsi said: "I've spent most of the weekend talking to organisations, individuals and activists who work in the area of race hate crime, who monitor hate crime, and they have shown some really disturbing early results from people being stopped in the street and saying 'Look, we voted Leave, it's time for you to leave'." "And they are saying this to individuals and families who have been here for three, four, five generations," she continued. "The atmosphere on the street is not good. This is what I said before the campaign - that long after the political bus moves on we leave problems on our street." During her interview on Sky News, Warsi also called on those in charge of the Leave campaign to admit that the campaign had been "divisive" and "xenophobic". She urged them to "give a commitment that future campaigning and the way that they intend to run this country will be united, [and] will make people from all backgrounds feel like they belong". Warsi's comments come as the Guardian reports that suspected incidents of public racism have taken place in Birmingham, Cambridge, Gloucester, London and other areas of the country following the UK's vote for Brexit. Meanwhile, a petition to trigger a second EU Referendum because of the narrow margin of the Leave campaign's 52%-48% victory has attracted more then 3.2 million signatures. However, the House of Commons petitions committee has said it is investigating allegations that some of these signatures could be fraudulent.