Peterborough's new Labour MP has made no effort to reach out to her Jewish constituents who are feeling "more vulnerable" since her unexpected victory amid an antisemitism row, a community representatitve has said.

Janet Berkman, honorary secretary of the city's Liberal community, told the JC there had “certainly not” been any contact from Lisa Forbes, who won the by-election last week despite revelations that she had liked conspiracy theory posts promoting Jew-hate.

She was found to have liked a Facebook post that said Theresa May had a “Zionist Slave Master's agenda” days before the election and endorsed a message that said Islamic extremists were created by the CIA and Mossad.

She was also among the signatories to a letter circulated last August by the pro-Corbyn “Jewish Voice for Labour” fringe group which opposed the adoption of the full IHRA definition of antisemitism by Labour.

Mrs Berkman said the Liberal Jewish community in the area, which comprises fewer than 50 members, had “felt relatively safe for quite some years”, but in the wake of Ms Forbes’ victory, “some of our members are saying that they feel rather more vulnerable than they used to.”

But she said that after Labour’s by-election win, the community had received “messages of support from people within the local area – not just Jews – expressing concern on our behalf.”

Speaking after her win, Ms Forbes described antisemitism as “abhorrent”, apologising for her actions and saying she hoped “that people will understand that I don't have a bad bone in my body towards any race of people.”

But Mrs Berkman told the JC that “there has been no contact" with her community nor the national Liberal Judaism body.

She said: “We have said…that what we want to see is action, not words. And we want her to make the first move. If she is sincere, then we want to see her making the first steps and the first moves to engage with the broader Jewish community and possibly with ourselves.”