The comedian Robert Webb has accused Russell Brand of political "timidity" for not voting and calling on other people not to vote, and suggested that he should better educate himself by reading "some fucking Orwell".

Webb, best known as one half of the comedy double act Mitchell and Webb, castigated Brand for an essay he wrote as guest editor of the New Statesman, which he ended by stating: "I will never vote and I don't think you should either."

Writing a response piece in the current edition of the magazine, the Peep Show actor criticised Brand for effectively "telling a lot of people that engagement with our democracy is a bad idea".

Webb, who said Brand's article had provoked him to rejoin the Labour party, expressed particular concern about the message Brand was sending to his young fanbase. He added: "That just gives politicians the green light to neglect the concerns of young people because they've been relieved of the responsibility of courting their vote.

"Why do pensioners (many of whom are not poor old grannies huddled round a kerosene lamp for warmth but bloated ex-hippie baby boomers who did very well out of the Thatcher/Lawson years) get so much attention from politicians? Because they vote."

Webb personally accused Brand of political "timidity" for failing to vote, arguing that this was a key way to object to many of the policies that he objects to, such as George Osborne's challenge to the European Union's proposed cap on bankers' bonuses.

Implying that Brand's political rhetoric was more style than substance, Webb also took issue with his claim that "revolution is un-British", arguing that the English invented it in the modern era when Charles I was beheaded in 1649.

Webb writes: "We got our revolution out of the way long before the French and the Americans. The monarchy was restored but the sovereignty of our parliament, made up of and elected by a slowly widening constituency of the people, has never been seriously challenged since then. Aha! Until now, you say! By those pesky, corporate, global, military-industrial conglomerate bastards! Well, yes. So national parliaments and supernational organisations such as the EU need more legitimacy. That's more votes, not fewer."

The comedian praised Brand for being "a wonderful talker" but archly noted that "on the page you sometimes let your style get ahead of what you actually think".

"In putting the words 'aesthetically' and 'disruption' in the same sentence, you come perilously close to saying that violence can be beautiful. Do keep an eye on that. Ambiguity around ambiguity is forgivable in an unpublished poet and expected of an arts student on the pull: for a professional comedian demoting himself to the role of 'thinker', with stadiums full of young people hanging on his every word, it won't really do."

Webb concludes by questioning Brand's avowed belief in God and his desire to find a "luminous connection" beyond himself through revolution. "We tried that again and again, and we know that it ends in death camps, gulags, repression and murder. In brief, and I say this with the greatest respect, please read some fucking Orwell."

His upbraiding of Brand comes after Jeremy Paxman accused the comedian of being a "trivial man" in a fierce exchange on Newsnight last week.