The head of the Catholic Church in the UK expressed his concern at a surge in racism after Britain voted to leave the European Union as he called for a common purpose.

Cardinal Vincent Nichols highlighted a Polish centre in Hammersmith, London, which was attacked with "allegedly racially motivated" graffiti and protesters in Newcastle who displayed a sign that read: "stop immigration, start repatriation".

On Tuesday the Archbishop of Westminster and president of the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales said the "upsurge of racism" was "simply not acceptable" and must not be tolerated.

Nichols said there was an important job to "grasp again our basic sense of purpose". He said the UK needs to define "the horizon against which we live" and warned that without that, Britain would close in on itself and become more divided.

"It is that sense of purpose that we may have lost focus of; believing that the purpose of politics is to manipulate power; the purpose of business is simply to make profit for a few. This challenge has been with us for a while now.

"Our purpose must be our common good, the good of all with no one excluded. Our politicians have to deal with their issues, businessmen and banks with their issues, but the fundamental purpose is to build a world in which strength is used for service and no one is excluded."

Cardinal Nichols was strongly opposed to Brexit in the build up to the vote and warned "more complex problems" would be created if the UK left the EU.

"There is a long tradition in Christianity and Catholicism in particular of believing in holding things together. So the Catholic stance towards an effort such as the EU is largely supportive," he said during the campaign.

But since the vote last week he has called for unity and said all leaders needed to "reflect on our failure to listen and to give voice to those who feel voiceless".

In a statement he said: "The great challenge for those leading the nation now is to speak for everyone. If a victory in a referendum remains a point of division, then we become weaker and weaker as a nation and not play a part in the international scene tackling the world's problem, which are great and challenging."