Scottish Labour MP Thomas Docherty is calling for a national debate on whether the sale of Adolf Hitler’s “repulsive” manifesto Mein Kampf should be prohibited in the UK.

Docherty has written to culture secretary Sajid Javid about the text, pointing out that it is currently “rated as an Amazon bestseller” and asking the cabinet member to consider leading a debate on the issue. An edition of Mein Kampf is currently in fifth place on Amazon’s “history of Germany” chart, in fourth place in its “history references” chart, and in 665th place overall.

“Of course Amazon – and indeed any other bookseller – is doing nothing wrong in selling the book. However, I think that there is a compelling case for a national debate on whether there should be limits on the freedom of expression,” writes Docherty to Javid.

The Labour MP for Dunfermline and West Fife says in his letter there are “many who would argue that the publication of books as repulsive as Mein Kampf is the price of living in a democracy”, and that “by allowing academic study of books such as this, we ensure that our society understands better the causes of fascism and the origins of Nazism”.

But there are also “many who would argue that such a book, which sought to incite racial hatred and fuel antisemitism, is too offensive to be made available”, he writes to Javid.

“This is particularly an issue given the widely reported rise in antisemitism not just in the UK but in other western European countries. I am aware that in a number of other countries, such as Germany and Russia, legislation has been passed that prohibits the sale of the book,” writes Docherty, suggesting that the culture secretary’s department is “best placed” to lead a “sensitive debate” on the topic, potentially through a consultation.

“I’m not saying it should be banned, I am saying we should absolutely have a debate about whether or not it should be banned,” Docherty told the Guardian. “Tomorrow is Holocaust Memorial Day – it’s 70 years since the liberation of Auschwitz and other concentration camps, and there have obviously been the tragic events recently in Paris. There’s also the rise of antisemitism, not just in the UK but across Europe. I think this is a debate we should have, and there is an irony if we censor a debate about the limits of free speech.”

Docherty said that the reality today is that if “someone puts the contents of Mein Kampf on to a blog, the police would knock on their door … so to what extent, because it is a historical work, does society treat it different than if it was a neo-Nazi today?” he asked.

“Could you have for argument’s sake a system of academic licensing, a system in which institutes of learning were permitted to publish and teach it?” he asked. “Let’s have the debate. Let’s ask, in the 21st century, are there limits to free speech?”

The Labour MP was clear that there “is a difference between a book which can cause an offence, and a book which can incite hatred … I don’t think this is a debate about The Satanic Verses, or the film The Last Temptation of Christ. Both caused offence, but they don’t seek to incite hatred,” he said. “This is not a debate around political books or manifestos or books which cause offence … What Mein Kampf and books like it do is specifically set out to incite hatred. It is literally the manifesto for Nazism.”