A “self-proclaimed Nazi” has gone on trial in the UK over comments he allegedly made at far-right rallies in which he described “international Jewry” as a “disease”.

The 22-year old from Lancashire, who cannot be named for legal reasons, appeared at Preston Crown Court on Tuesday, pleading not guilty to two counts of inciting racial hatred.

The court was played a video of the defendant giving a speech in Blackpool, in which he told the crowd "you can call me Nazi, you can call me fascist. That is what I am."

He said that Britain had "fought the National Socialists, who were there to remove Jewry from Europe once and for all.

"Instead, we let these parasites live among us, and they still do."

A transcript of a speech was shown to the jury, in which the defendant is alleged to have said that Hitler showed too much mercy to the Jewish people and explained his support for the far-right National Action group.

Last year the Home Secretary, Amber Rudd, banned National Action as a terrorist group.

Matthew Brook, prosecuting, told the court that the defendant, a “self-proclaimed Nazi… hates the Jews.

“This trial is about two speeches he made in which he made threatening and abusive comments about the Jewish race. When making those speeches he intended to stir up racial hatred. He wanted others to hate the Jews in the same way that he does.”

The trial continues.