Jeremy Corbyn has been accused of blocking any mention of immigration in Labour’s official referendum leaflet setting out its case for the UK remaining in the EU.

Furious MPs say the Labour leader was urged to include a section addressing voters’ concerns about immigration.

They warn that many voters in the party’s traditional Northern heartlands are backing Brexit because of anger over mass immigration. Despite the warning the glossy four-page leaflet mailed to millions of homes does not mention the word immigration.

Pictured, Labour Leader, Jeremy Corbyn and Deputy Leader, Tom Watson take part in a community meeting at the Guru Har Rai Gurdwara Sahib temple in West Bromwich during a visit on Wednesday

One shadow minister told the Daily Mail: ‘Loads of us told Jeremy’s office that immigration had to be included in the leaflet, but they didn’t want to know. It’s coming up on every doorstep, so it’s ridiculous that we seem to be ignoring it completely.’

The episode echoes last year’s election campaign when Labour candidates were told to ‘move the conversation on’ if voters raised concerns about immigration.

Last night, a spokesman for Mr Corbyn flatly denied he had vetoed any mention of immigration, adding: ‘The leaflet reinforces Labour’s main messages about the dangers of a Tory Brexit and the threat to jobs and workers’ rights.’

But the failure to address immigration in the leaflet will reinforce concerns that Labour is ducking the issue.

Shadow home office minister Keir Starmer said there was a growing perception among Labour voters that the party had ‘walked round a problem, rather than confronted a problem’.

He told the House magazine: ‘What we’re picking up as we go around the country is the public – rightly or wrongly – think that Labour doesn’t want to talk to them about immigration.

'We have absolutely got to break that and to make it clear that we are engaging.’

Mr Starmer also took a thinly-veiled swipe at Mr Corbyn’s hard-Left agenda, saying: ‘You won’t find the answers to tomorrow’s questions in yesterday’s answers, in recrafting, reinventing old ways of thinking, old theories, that are not relevant to the project ahead.’

Many Labour MPs are alarmed at the party’s failure to persuade its supporters to back EU membership

Many Labour MPs are alarmed at the party’s failure to persuade its supporters to back EU membership.

Northern MPs report widespread anger about mass immigration from the EU, while some Labour supporters are said to view the referendum as an opportunity to give David Cameron a bloody nose.

Former Labour home secretary Alan Johnson dismissed suggestions that Mr Corbyn’s long-standing opposition to the EU was hampering the campaign.