The rise in antisemitic incidents across Britain has made Maureen Lipman considering leaving the country.

The Hull-born actress said her long-held fears over the future safety of Jews had developed into a genuine consideration of whether to move away over recent months.

In a Holocaust Memorial Day interview on LBC radio, Ms Lipman said she had thought about moving to New York or Israel.

“When the going gets tough, the Jews get packing,” she said. “It’s crossed my mind that it’s time to have a look around for another place to live.

“When the economy dries up, then they turn on the usual scapegoat: the usual suspect – the Jew.

“There is one school of thought that says it’s because of Israeli policies in the West Bank – it isn’t. There’s been antisemitism for the past 4,000 years.”

Ms Lipman, one of the country’s most popular performers, said she had been discussing her concerns with friends and family for “a long time”.

“My kids are very bored with me,” she said. “But it is only in the last few months that they have to begun to say: ‘Mum, you may have something’.”

She said the dramatic increase in antisemitism, against a backdrop of the Jewish community’s contribution to Britain, had left her “very depressed”.

Last year Ms Lipman said she would not vote for Labour in the general election because of Ed Miliband’s stance on Israel.