Parties can't ignore immigration fears, warns Letwin

Oliver Letwin, the shadow Home Secretary, warned yesterday that support for the British National Party would grow unless mainstream politicians got to grips with the "legitimate concerns" of voters over immigration.

Phil Woolas, Labour MP for Oldham East, which was hit by riots last year, also issued a stern warning on the potential appeal of the BNP to disaffected whites.

He complained that race attacks against white people were not being treated seriously enough by the police and cautioned that communities could turn to the BNP if they felt their worries were not being taken seriously.

The comments reflect increasing concern in the main parties over signs of the BNP gaining a foothold in northern industrial towns. The far-right party now has councillors in Blackburn, Burnley and Halifax and is tipped to make further gains in May's council elections.

Mr Letwin, in an interview with the political website ePolitix, called for a "cool-headed" debate on sensitive policy areas, such as the treatment of asylum-seekers.

But he warned: "What we can't do as serious politicians, and I think the Prime Minister has been forced into recognising this too, is just sit here and ignore these legitimate concerns of decent sensible people, because if we do, we give ground to the extremists. And they have nothing to offer us – the BNP has nothing to offer this country.

"We have to make sure in the mainstream parties that we're answering the legitimate concerns so that those extremists can't get purchase."

He defended Tory plans to detain all asylum-seekers for screening by the intelligence services to try to stop terrorists entering Britain.

Asked if the policy could reinforce the party's "nasty" image, Mr Letwin replied: "I hope we won't. I hope we won't be castigated as nasty for saying these things – partly because I think people know that what we're saying is true, partly because the tone of voice in which we're saying it is calculatedly low key.

"We're trying to make it clear that we're earnest and we're rational and we're not trying to stir. But, you know, in the end you've got to stop worrying too much about how people see you and try and say the things you think are necessary and true. Otherwise, what's the point of being in politics?"

Mr Woolas, the MP for Oldham East and Saddleworth, said he had written to the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) asking it to investigate the treatment of racially motivated violence.

Mr Woolas told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "What I am trying to do in Oldham is build consent for a multicultural society and to do that, we have to be seen to be even-handed, and at the moment, unfortunately, we are not.

"The way to defeat the BNP, who are both a cause and a symptom of racial hatred, is to defeat their arguments."

Mr Woolas, a government whip, added: "We have had a series of very nasty and sinister attacks in my area against white people, where it is very clear that the motivation is racial. We had a terrible murder of an Asian taxi driver in the New Year and this has raised the issue and raised tensions in the town.

"There is a very strong feeling of support from the Asian community in the constituency."

The Labour MEP Claude Moraes, a former director of the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, said: "Racially motivated attacks on white people are something that the CRE has taken very seriously in the past. They are as brutal and are to be condemned as much as racially motivated attacks on black and Asian or ethnic- minority people.

"Both must be dealt with equally and effectively."