Totnes Mayor, Cllr Ben Piper, has condemned the self-proclaimed ‘truthpaper,’ The Light, after copies resurfaced in the town.

The ‘newspaper’ which has previously peddled conspiracy theories such as the ‘coronavirus is a hoax’ has again been pushed through letterboxes in Kingsbridge and Totnes.

The latest edition hails medical research as “seriously corrupt” and says all claims about viruses being pathogens are false.

Published monthly in the UK, the paper’s front page banner asks “Have money and power corrupted all science?” atop a list of articles, one of which is headed “The Covid Nazification of the NHS.”

Cllr Piper denounced the paper for exploiting fear and uncertainty about the pandemic.

He said: “I’m sorry to see this publication rumbling on. Whilst there may have some doubts earlier the facts now very much speak for themselves, but sadly there are those who will exploit peoples fear and uncertainty to further their cause.

“It’s clear that you are more likely to be hit by a bus on your way to the vaccination than suffer any adverse affects.

“It’s also clear that it is the vaccination program that has saved our NHS from being overwhelmed, and it is vaccination that massively helps to limit new strains of virus.

“If anybody is still in doubt they really should help us all by helping themselves.”

The paper first began to appear across the UK in September last year and its founder and editor is Manchester-based Darren Smith who uses social media to rally volunteers to distribute the paper across the UK.

Smith has penned several articles in the latest edition, including one entitled “Government primes businesses to enforce medical apartheid” in which he calls Covid-19 vaccines “mass unethical medical experiments” and makes multiple claims that coronavirus is being used as a front to curtail civil liberties.

Smith also jointly wrote an article, with a Jessica Peters, titled “MPs vote for forced vaccines,” which suggests MPs are “still under the impression there really is a deadly contagious disease out there, but after 18 months with no evidence of one whatsoever, one must now really start to question the sanity of those so-called representatives.”

Cllr Piper dismissed the claims pedalled by the covid-deniers.

“I am really sorry to have fallen out with some of my friends and acquaintances over this issue but I can only say when you find yourself sharing a platform with climate denier Piers Corbyn and David Icke, you probably really need to take a reality check,” he said.