UK police warn against 'febrile' Brexit rhetoric

Martin Hewitt, head of the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC), said public figures should be wary.

"This is highly emotive as an issue as we all know and clearly everyone will have their opinions.

"But I think there is a responsibility on those individuals that have a platform and have a voice, to communicate in a way that is temperate and is not in any way going to inflame people's views," he said.

Security has been beefed up around MPs in recent months, particularly anti-Brexit ones, because of heated protests around the British parliament.

"We are in an incredibly febrile atmosphere as a result of the whole EU exit scenario," Hewitt said.

Police said the number of crimes linked to Brexit was still small but rising, going up to 26 last week from 11 the week before. Crimes included malicious communications online, harassment and verbal abuse.

Chief Constable Charlie Hall, the NPCC's lead for operations, also said there would be police support only "if absolutely necessary" in case of Brexit-linked issues such as transport disruption.

Under existing national contingency plans, 10,000 riot-trained officers can be deployed anywhere in the country within 24 hours.

Currently, 1,000 have received extra training so that they can be deployed to Northern Ireland if needed.

The issue of what will happen to the currently free-flowing border between the British province of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland after Brexit has been particularly contentious.