An interim report submitted last week to policing minister Sarah Jones called for the practice of recording such incidents be scrapped by forces across England and Wales, The Times reports.

Under a new system, officers and call handlers would record information only where there was a clear risk of harm, the newspaper adds.

It comes after the Metropolitan Police announced on Monday that it is no longer investigating non-crime hate incidents.

The move came after it emerged Father Ted creator Graham Linehan will face no further action over social media posts he made about transgender issues, after he was arrested at Heathrow Airport in September.

Assistant Chief Constable Tom Harding, director of operational standards at the College of Policing, told The Times he expected the new system would cause a “significant reduction” in incident recording.

He said: “We will remove NCHIs [non-hate crime incidents] in their current form.

“We’re not here to deal with differences of opinion or online fallings-out — policing’s job is to protect people from harm.

“At the moment, anything that causes a member of the public concern must be recorded — that’s vast. It’s gone far beyond policing’s core responsibilities.”

Mr Harding added that the current definition of NCHIs has “drifted too far from what policing is here to do”.

Irish comedy writer Mr Linehan was arrested in September by five armed officers shortly after touching down at Heathrow Airport on suspicion of “inciting violence” in relation to posts he made to X.

The Met Police later dropped the probe after the Crown Prosecution Service carried out a review of the evidence and concluded “no further action will be taken”.

In an email to the 57-year-old’s lawyers, a detective from the force wrote: “This decision means that no charges will be brought against Graham Linehan in relation to this allegation.

“Please note that this decision may be reconsidered if further evidence or information comes to light.”

Speaking to GB News, Mr Linehan described the ordeal as being “so absurd”.

While the initial arrest was made by officers who the Met said had reasonable grounds to believe an offence had been committed under the Public Order Act, the investigation later became one into a non-crime hate incident.

Non-crime hate incidents are perceived to be motivated by hostility or prejudice towards certain characteristics such as race or gender but do not meet the threshold of a criminal offence.

Following Mr Linehan’s arrest, Met Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said officers were in “an impossible position” when dealing with statements made online.

On Monday, a police spokesman said the commissioner had been “clear he doesn’t believe officers should be policing toxic culture war debates, with current laws and rules on inciting violence online leaving them in an impossible position”.

The force added that the decision to no longer investigate non-crime hate incidents would now “provide clearer direction for officers, reduce ambiguity and enable them to focus on matters that meet the threshold for criminal investigations”.

The Met has said it will still record non-crime hate incidents to use as “valuable pieces of intelligence to establish potential patterns of behaviour or criminality”.