Manchester’s Jewish Representative Council has issued a statement condemning the “openly racist” Tommy Robinson and the “tiny number” of Jews who support him.

In a letter published on Thursday night, the Rep Council addressed reports that election leaflets urging Jews to vote for the far-right extremist had been disseminated among Manchester’s Orthodox community.

The anonymous flyers, circulated in Manchester on Wednesday, were addressed to "our fellow Orthodox Jews", and called Robinson "a staunch friend of our people”, as well as “an independent, fearless fighter for a sane, decent, honest, traditional-values society, and justice for victims of terrible crimes, callously ignored through 'political correctness'."

The Rep Council said that the leaflet had been produced by members of the Charedi community in London.

“Tommy Robinson is openly racist attacking the immigrant community and in particular Muslims”, the organisation’s statement said.

“We are shocked, that in living memory of the Holocaust, where our people and others were butchered in the name of a racist ideology, that any Jews can support fascism and racism. We say to Tommy Robinson, and to the very few Jewish people who support him: ‘The Community do not support you, you are not welcome in our city’.”

The flyer also claimed that "England has become unrecognisable from the decent country we grew up in" and says politicians have "launched sickening attacks on the purity of our beautiful children's education".

It said Robinson had been "standing up for us for many times, both here and in Eretz Yisrael" and urged people to ignore the "official media…the same media that pumps out hate and lies about Israel, religious values, our schools and institutions.”

In its response, the Rep council said Tommy Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, “wraps himself in the Israeli flag and a tiny number of Jewish people believe that this indicates support for the Jewish community and for Israel. This is not accurate and is used as a ploy to garner support for his beliefs.

“We will not accept the support of racists, using symbols designed to inflame tensions between the Muslim and Jewish communities.”

The unambiguous statement from Manchester’s Rep council came a few hours after the Board of Deputies also condemned Tommy Robinson.

Marie van der Zyl, president of the Board said: " Tommy Robinson's anti-Muslim propaganda will never gain support of the mainstream Jewish community.

"We deplore the attempts of a tiny number of misguided individuals who claim otherwise."