AN anti-hate campaign group will be hosting a youth conference to promote tolerance and harmony in Herefordshire.

West Midlands Together, a cross-party organisation set up following a spike of hate crime after the Brexit referendum, will come to the county on September 28.

The group, which was launched by Conservative MEP Anthea McIntyre and her Labour colleague Neena Gill, was invited to the county by a Herefordshire Council officer following a recent youth conference in Birmingham.

The September event will partly focus on incidents of hate crime against eastern Europeans and others in Herefordshire.

Ms McIntyre, who lives near Ross-on-Wye, said: “Our steering group reviewed the February event – which was so vibrant and inspiring – and decided this work with young people must continue.

“We already had one request to bring a version of the youth event to Herefordshire, which will help to demonstrate hate crime is a problem too in rural areas and smaller towns and cities.

“So we decided to go ahead with that as a one-off and to work to establish the region-wide conference as an annual event.

“The young people we have worked with were so energetic, so committed and so honest that it was clear we had to carry on showcasing that energy.”

There will also be a second region-wide youth conference, to be staged in the West Midlands conurbation in early 2018 with the intention of making it an annual event.

Further details of the events and their venues will be unveiled later this year.