Tory leader slams BNP as 'a stain on our democracy'

The Tory leader has today used a speech in Burnley - the Lancashire town which saw some of Britain's most serious race riots since the 1980s - to excoriate the BNP as "a stain on our democracy".

Mr Howard told his audience that the "bigots of the BNP" must be confronted and that politicians must stand up to all those "preaching racism, intolerance, and brutality in society".

The Folkestone and Hyth MP said that it had been a "mistake" for mainstream politicians not to visit Burnley – a town which elected seven BNP candidates to its civic council in 2002.

Mr Howard said: "There is a specific reason why I have come to Burnley. I want to address directly what I see as a stain on our democratic way of life: the British National Party.

"There are those who say that it is better to ignore their presence on the political stage - that talking about the BNP gives extremists the oxygen of publicity. I do not agree. It is important for politicians from mainstream parties to face up to extremists in any form, to tell people why we disagree with them and why they should be defeated."

The leader of the Opposition said that the cultural strength of Britain lay in its diversity and willingness to absorb asylum seekers from across the globe. Mr Howard himself is the product of immigration – his family fled Romania to south Wales before World War II.

Warning that the policies of the BNP were based on "bigotry and hatred", an approach which is "entirely alien" to Britain's political traditions, Mr Howard added: "We are a stronger and better country, rich in our cultural diversity, because of the immigrant communities that have settled here. People of all races and religions are to be found in every walk of life, doing as well as their individual talents and efforts deserve. Many of them came to Britain and had to start again from scratch. But hard work, ingenuity and determination have propelled them forward. They are a credit to our community."

Mr Howard has previously committed the Conservatives to a tougher stand on immigration and asylum, promising stronger curbs on migration from the former Soviet bloc states due to join the European Community in May.

Signalling his support for rules which would ensure that immigrants from eastern Europe have to obtain work permits and jobs to go to, he said: "The Conservative Party has always supported the enlargement of the EU to take in the former communist countries, and we continue to do so.

"If the EU stands for anything, it is healing the divide that has scarred our continent since the Second World War. But almost every other country in the EU has quite rightly taken the precaution of putting in place transitional arrangements to deal with immigration."

(gmcg)