A COUNCILLOR claims religious hate crime is on the increase in a town.

His claims have been made following remarks made by the former foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, in a recent newspaper article, where he compared women wearing face-covering veils to bank robbers.

Burnley councillor Shah Hussain has described Mr Johnson's remarks as 'unacceptable' and raised concerns over the impact this will have in the borough.

The Labour councillor said: "The way the Labour party have been exposed in terms of anti-Semitism but not as much focus on the Conservative Party and their Islamophobia is unacceptable. My constituents feel double standards have been set and that brings out resentment.

"There is increasing Islamophobia on the streets of Burnley and increased incidents of people being attacked because of their religion, which is just wrong."

Mr Johnson’s father, Stanley, had previously come to his son's defence, telling ITV1’s Good Morning Britain earlier this week: “I think we are just picking holes here. I think people are whipping up a little mountain out of a molehill on this one, I really do.”