Politicians have a “responsibility” to avoid fanning the flames of racial tension, Yvette Cooper said as she launched a new inquiry into hate crime.

The former Cabinet minister said campaigners must not “inflame” prejudice as she made her first major intervention since seeing off Chuka Umunna and Caroline Flint for the chair’s job on the home affairs select committee.

“Campaigners and political leaders have a responsibility to ensure their rhetoric does not inflame prejudice or become a licence for hate crime” said Cooper.

Her committee is looking into rise in hate crimes after the EU referendum. E vidence sessions begin tomorrow.

Witnesses will include Nick Lowles, director of Hope Not Hate, Shane Gorman, a disability hate crime adviser, and Dr Peter Burnap, director of the social data science lab at Cardiff University.

The committee’s inquiry will look at the efficacy of policy and law enforcement, the frequency of hate crime and the effect of online platforms and social media.

In July 2016, hate crimes reported to the police were up 41 per cent on the same period in 2015 with a peak on the 1st of July.

Cooper said: “No one should ever find themselves targeted by violence or hatred because of the colour of their skin, their religion, gender, sexuality or disability.”

“In a democracy, political disagreement should never provoke violence, hatred or discrimination. Campaigners and political leaders have a responsibility to ensure their rhetoric does not inflame prejudice or become a licence for hate crime.”

She was keen to make clear the link between online and offline hate crimes, saying: “They are intrinsically linked and must be tackled together.”

She also spoke in response to the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States, saying: “The Trump campaign and the reports of hate crime in the US since the election should be a warning to all of us about the dangers of whipping up hatred and prejudice.

“Political debate – in this country and around the world – should be strong and robust, but should seek to calm tensions, not inflame them. Free speech is a fundamental right in the UK and it should be afforded to everyone – free from intimidation and abuse.”