Religious groups lashed Jeremy Corbyn today for sacking Sarah Champion after she warned of grooming by Pakistani men.

A letter, signed by crossbench peer Lord Singh on behalf of the Network of Sikh Organisations and by groups including the British Pakistani Christian Association and Hindu Council UK, warned against victims being 'sacrificed on the altar of political correctness'.

Ms Champion was told to quit the shadow cabinet after she wrote in The Sun: 'Britain has a problem with British Pakistani men raping and exploiting white girls.'

The letter also spoke up in defence Amina Lone, a Manchester councillor who was de-selected after speaking up for Ms Champion.

A joint letter signed by Lord Singh of Wimbledon (pictured in the Lords in February) on behald of religious groups warned against grooming victims being 'sacrificed on the altar of political correctness'

The letter to The Times said: 'We commend Sarah Champion and the Muslim councillor Amina Lone for speaking up on a clear trend in criminality: the conviction of men of largely Pakistani Muslim heritage in sexual-grooming cases.

'For decades Hindu, Sikh and Christian organisations have raised concerns about grooming gangs.

'The latter have plagued our communities, so much so that a BBC documentary on the targeting of Sikhs was aired a few years ago.

The letter spoke up in defence of Sarah Champion, a Labour MP sacked from the shadow cabinet after she warned of grooming by Pakistani men

'The common denominator is that victims almost always tend to be non-Muslim girls. We are dismayed by the Labour leadership's weak response.

'We are not willing to see the betrayal of victims, who are being sacrificed on the altar of political correctness.'

The letter said Ms Champion was 'undoubtedly right' to say the race of perpetrators could not be ignored.

It did warn the 'pattern' among victims was for them to be non-Muslim and not only white.

Ms Champion apologised for her 'extremely poor choice of words' when she left the shadow cabinet last month.

But she defended speaking up on the issue last week.

She told the Times: 'If I'm on the floppy left, to be accused of racism is probably the worst thing you can call me.

'That fear will motivate me to step away from a lot of topics I'd maybe tackle head on if I didn't have that phobia.'

A spokesman for Jeremy Corbyn (pictured at the Lush Creative Convention yesterday) said grooming was committed by people of all backgrounds

In response to the letter, a spokesman for Jeremy Corbyn said: 'Sexual abuse is an extremely serious crime that requires effective action to tackle it.

'To do so, we must focus on the perpetrators and how we can prevent grooming of women and girls.

'These heinous crimes are committed by people of all backgrounds.

'Stigmatising entire communities is wrong, and damages the interests of victims of sexual abuse and the rigorous investigation into the underlying causes of that abuse.'