BNP leader Nick Griffin

The far-right British National Party has taken three council seats in Burnley.

The party also made a strong showing in Oldham, where it averaged 27 per cent of the vote.

Following the rioting of last summer, and the following reports that described communities divided by "self-segregation" and "prejudice", the BNP had been making a concerted effort in the towns of Burnley and Oldham.

This prompted claims from critics that the BNP was seeking to exploit the riots, and led to Tony Blair urging voters to back any mainstream party rather than the BNP.

In Burnley turnout topped 53 per cent.

BNP candidate David Evans took one of the Burnley seats, with 898 votes, finishing ahead of the three Labour candidates.

Carol Hughes was another BNP victor, with 751 votes. Terence Grogan was also elected for the party.

The party, which campaigns for the "voluntary repatriation" of Britain's minority communities to their "lands of ethnic origin", last won local election seats nine years ago in London's East End.

This time round the BNP averaged 18 per cent of the vote in the areas where it fielded candidates, making the poll its best showing since the late 1970s.

Lord Ouseley, a former chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality, said the outcome would put a "severe chill" on community relations in Burnley.

"I wouldn't like to be a member of a minority community living in Burnley during the foreseeable future," he told the BBC1 Vote 2002 programme.

"I think the BNP vote is a very severe chill factor in terms of the future of community relations in that area."

Labour Party chairman Charles Clarke vowed to defeat the BNP.

"In Burnley there are a number of deep-seated problems which have developed over many years. What is unfortunate is that the BNP candidates have no interest in healing these communities, and are intent on tearing them apart," he said in a statement.

"It is disappointing that any BNP candidates have been elected, but tonight has shown that they have been rejected in the vast number of seats.

"This is not the first time the threat of the far right has emerged. They won council seats in the 1970s and again in the 1990s. This threat has been defeated before and it will be defeated again".

Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Simon Hughes told BBC Radio 4's Today programme the result was "worrying".

"It is always worrying when people protest in a way that brings the extreme racist right to power. But it is small beer compared to the way the extreme right have gained in the Netherlands, Denmark and France.

"[The far right] have never held anything for any significant period before and we would hope that together in very short time we can make sure they don't hold the ground they have made in Burnley," said Hughes.

BNP leader Nick Griffin said: "It's very good news for us indeed."