The final tally of Holocaust Memorial Day events around the UK was 5,590, a 55 per cent increase on the 2015 total of 3,600.

Announcing the figures, the HMD Trust said they showed "how commemoration of HMD is becoming more embedded in the life of communities". Highlights of the national cere-mony broadcast on BBC Two attracted an audience of 500,000.

A recent academic study revealed that after involvement in HMD, 70 per cent of respondents felt more aware of the causes of genocide and 66 per cent felt more sympathetic towards those of different backgrounds.