Officials in Bexley have condemned “vile” hate crimes in the borough following a spike in incidents since the EU referendum.

Councillors from all parties backed a motion made by Councillor Edward Boateng calling on the council to reassure residents that hate will not become acceptable.

“Certainly since Brexit we have seen an increase in events that all of us condemn and nobody wants to see in an open and tolerant society,” Cllr Stefano Borella said.

“I have had abuse hurled at me. I have been called a Greek – bubble and squeak – Greek, I’ve been called a terrorist on the train. Both these events happened in the last two years. Both these people have been punished by the police.

“I was born in this country, I’m of Italian descent and born in Lewisham, it’s disgraceful people are out there doing this. ”

Cllr Abena Oppong-Asare said: “I really support this motion. Following Brexit there has been a spate, an increase, in racist abuse.

“In my ward [Erith] residents have been faced with racist abuse since Brexit – one resident was spat at outside Morrisons, one of my residents told me when their 12-year-old child went to school they were asked when they’d go back home.

“On the day the [Nigel’ Farage’s anti-EU] Breaking Point leaflets came out, I was racially abused as well.”

Cllr Boateng called on the council to condemn all forms of discrimination and victimisation, and to ensure local bodies and programmes had the right resources to fight and prevent abuse.

It comes on the 25th anniversary of the Stephen Lawrence murder in Eltham, to which Labour leader Daniel Francis said: “Just outside our borough a young man was brutally murdered, at a time when that kind of violence was prevalent in this borough.

“Cars would pull up and people jump out and beat people to a pulp because of their colour or their sexuality. Those scenes should never be repeated – but sadly they were repeated during the summer of 2016. The language and hate were prevalent in this borough again.”

In Bexley, reports of hate crimes increased by nearly 15 per cent between June 2016 and 20717, from an average of 166 to 182 reports a month.

Figures supplied by the Home Office in October showed a 29 per cent increase in hate crimes across England and Wales.

Cllr David Leaf supported Cllr Boateng and said there was no place for the “vile and repugnant” hate crimes in Bexley.

He said: “It’s very important we punish offenders. As a traditional conservative I stand by the fact we should be locking these people up for a very long time. Some of the incidents we hear about are sickening.”

Moving to support the motion, Cllr Peter Craske: “I think the motion is topical. It’s 50 years ago since Dr King was assassinated, and 25 years ago since Stephen Lawrence’s murder.

“No matter how much you know about that you still can’t quite believe that happened. A lot of progress has been made – but we can never stop being vigilant about these things.

“Those who commit those offences should be punished. To defeat hate we must stand together. I’m glad to support this. Racism, sexism, it has no place in Bexley.”

Councillors voted unanimously in favour of Cllr Boateng’s motion.