In the centre of Batley stands Jo Cox House, named after the MP murdered by a rightwing extremist during the EU referendum campaign. For many in the West Yorkshire town it stands as a reminder of the perils of extremism and the need for unity. Close by stand the offices of the town’s weekly newspaper, whose editor and proprietor is accused of aggravating community tensions through a series of anti-Muslim opinion pieces.

In January, Danny Lockwood, owner of The Press, met Tommy Robinson, former English Defence League leader and notorious Islamo-phobe, near Jo Cox House to discuss how the town’s Muslim and “established” white community were “completely at odds with each other”.

Last month alone, Lockwood used his columns to attack a group that monitors anti-Muslim hate incidents – whom he called “soft-headed virtue signallers”; questioned the definition of Islamophobia; and mocked the “Zorro outfits” worn by some Muslim women.

Cox’s successor, Tracy Brabin, has not been spared. Dismissing her as a member of “the Palestine-loving Labour left”, a Lockwood column on 14 August accused her of “making a living out of pandering to men who treat women like domestic slaves” after the MP criticised Boris Johnson’s remarks about women in burqas.

Brabin, who was born in the town and is acutely aware that she represents a constituency still raw from the murder of Cox, is among many in Batley who believe Lockwood has gone too far.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Tracy Brabin, Jo Cox’s successor as MP, was attacked as a member of the ‘Palestine-loving Labour left’. Photograph: Alecsandra Raluca Drăgoi/The Observer

In a carefully worded statement issued on Friday, Brabin said: “I understand that it’s his style to be provocative to elicit a reaction, but with such a platform comes responsibility. Our community has gone through difficult times, and I’d always hoped that powerful voices, such as our local press, would be looking to unite us rather than entrench division.”

Others, too, believe that the time has come to publicly challenge Lockwood, whose newspaper is the primary publication in a town where around a third of the population is Muslim.

Cox’s predecessor, Mike Wood, the town’s Labour MP from 1997 to 2015, has said he felt it prudent not to rise to Lockwood’s provocation while in office. But, breaking his silence, told the Observer: “Lockwood has never been anything other than a major issue in terms of trying to unstick what a lot of people were trying to do in terms of community relations.”

Describing Lockwood as “anti-Muslim”, Wood added: “It took a lot of work from all kinds of parties [to maintain community cohesion] and Danny was in the middle stirring it in the opposite direction, that’s the nature of the man. He’s the worst form of pub bore: he has an opinion on everything, and he’s always right.”

Lockwood denied being anti-Muslim, and said he was attempting to induce debate and articulate the anxieties of a community he claims is otherwise ignored. “There is one part of the community which in my opinion doesn’t have a voice, is taken for granted and is marginalised politically. I try to give my readers a voice they don’t otherwise have.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Jo Cox died from her injuries after being shot and stabbed by a rightwing extremist on 16 June 2016. Photograph: Rex/Shutterstock

Lockwood maintains that politicians always pander to the needs of Muslims at the expense of other parts of the community.

“Tracy Brabin had been in town for about 10 minutes when she did an exclusive radio interview with the Indian Muslim Welfare Society. She was stupid enough not to realise that half the town was watching it because it was being broadcast on the web.

“It’s another instance – and Tracy and I have had this out – of another MP coming to this town and trying to have two agendas: one for the Muslim community which sustains them and keeps them in power, and one for the rest.

“We had that with Shahid Malik [the former Labour MP for nearby Dewsbury]. He lost his seat because of it. We had it with Jo Cox, tragically,” he added.

Lockwood’s columns risk alienating much of the town. Batley’s Muslim community began arriving in the 1950s, largely from rural Gujarat in India. More than 50% of the population in the town’s east side is now of south Asian origin. Among them is Abdul Shaikh, a teaching fellow in Islamic studies at the University of Leeds. He said: “Lockwood has got his publication and he is playing to a particular agenda. He probably thinks he is a champion for the white working class.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A celebration of Jo Cox’s life on the day she would have celebrated her 42nd birthday. Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Observer

Many worry that Lockwood’s positioning will become more strident against a backdrop of rising populism, the uncertainty of Brexit and the shifting of Islamophobic discourse into the mainstream media.

“He’s tapping into a well of resentment, discontent and fear of the unknown, and you can see he clearly plays to a certain agenda,” said Shaikh.

Others point out that Lockwood should behave more responsibly, particularly in a town still processing the murder of Cox. “We had this extreme rightwinger who killed Jo Cox, and people like Mr Lockwood ought to consider what they are doing, that their ideas can push forward the ideas of the extreme right,” said Peter Ward, a local resident and Labour activist.

Former MP Wood worries that Lockwood’s polemics will damage Batley’s community relations, which so far have survived the riots of nearby places such as Bradford, Oldham and Dewsbury. The last of these is something of an obsession for Lockwood, who in 2011 self-published The Islamic Republic of Dewsbury, which purported to “lift the lid on the real effects – and victims – of multiculturalism”.

The Press has 17,500 readers in a town with a population of 40,000. Photograph: The Press

Critics say it confirms Lockwood as a nostalgist. “Danny is one of those sad people who is locked in the 1950s and really what he’s doing weekly is articulating the fact that things aren’t what they used to be,” said Wood.

It is a message some welcome. Standing outside Howies chippy, Deborah, 31, said: “I know it’s a bit controversial but I agree with his [Lockwood’s] message. He speaks his mind. People are too afraid to speak up about certain topics around here.”

Nina Sinclair, who has lived in Batley all her 79 years, said: “I like The Press. It has never upset me.”

Launched in 2002, the newspaper has an average circulation of 17,500 – Batley’s population is about 40,000 – and is described as a hybrid: a mixture of free and paid-for copies. “I don’t know if his advertisers realise that he is trying to drag up racial tensions which aren’t there,” said Ward.

Lockwood, who says he has many Muslim friends, states that “a lot” of the advertisers in The Press are south Asian businesses. When asked about his meeting with Robinson in Batley, Lockwood said he did not agree with the views of the former EDL leader (although a Lockwood column in June 2018 appears to encourage readers to buy Robinson’s book).

Lockwood said: “He’s a very unwise young man who’s his own worst enemy a lot of the time. But as a journalist I believe in everyone being able to tell their tale. It’s only when everything is out there that you can actually give everything a fair judgment. I editorialised massively against the EDL when they were using Batley and Dewsbury as platforms for their shit-stirring.”