The recording of non-crime hate incidents by police forces in England and Wales should be scrapped in all but a few cases, the Conservatives have said.

The party will try to amend the government's Crime and Policing Bill to ban forces from logging such incidents, except in limited circumstances.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said non-crime hate incidents (NCHIs) had "wasted police time chasing ideology and grievance instead of justice".

But Policing Minister Diana Johnson said the plan was "unworkable" and "would prevent the police monitoring serious antisemitism and other racist incidents".

NCHIs are defined as alleged acts perceived to be motivated by hostility or prejudice towards people with certain characteristics, such as race or gender.

They are recorded to collect data on "hate incidents that could escalate into more serious harm" but do not amount to a criminal offence, according to Home Office guidance.

Police guidance on the recording of NCHIs was first published in 2005, following recommendations by an inquiry into the murder of Stephen Lawrence.

Tuesday marks 32 years since he was murdered in a racially motivated attack in south-east London.

The Tories said it was not intentional that their announcement came on the anniversary.

NCHIs are not recorded nationally by a single source and not all police forces publish data on the number of incidents they log.

Last year, the Telegraph newspaper reported that 43 forces in England and Wales had recorded more than 133,000 non-crime hate incidents (NCHI) since 2014.

In 2023, the Conservative government changed the guidance on the recording of NCHIs in England and Wales.

The new guidelines said officers should consider whether a complaint was "trivial" or if the incident was motivated by "intentional hostility or prejudice".