Nissan has instructed Lewis Silkin as it moves to take legal action against the official campaign for Britain to leave the European Union.

The car manufacturer is set to file legal proceedings at London's High Court today (20 June) against the Vote Leave campaign following the inclusion of Nissan's logo on a leaflet.

The leaflet, which also included the logos of other companies including Unilever and Airbus, claimed Nissan and others would keep jobs in the UK even if the public votes to leave the EU on Thursday (23 June).

The partner leading the Lewis Silkin team on the case is Giles Crown, head of the firm's business division.

In a statement Nissan said that it had made "repeated requests" for the logo to be removed and not be used on any other campaign materials.

"Permission to use our name and logo was not requested. If it was, it would not have been granted," Nissan said.

"We have repeatedly asked Vote Leave to stop using our name and logo on their materials and to stop misrepresenting our views – a request that has clearly been denied."

"As such, we will be issuing legal proceedings today in the High Court asking for an injunction to stop Vote Leave's use of Nissan's name and logo, and to prevent them from making any further false statements and misrepresentations concerning Nissan."

Commercial law specialist Lewis Silkin opened its first international office in Hong Kong last year. It currently has four offices including London, Cardiff and Oxford.

The EU referendum vote takes place this week (23 June). Lewis Silkin was unavailable for comment.