Candidate Robin Evans won the Mill Hill seat in Blackburn with a
majority of just 16 votes.

The seat on Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council became vacant after
a Liberal Democrat councillor left the area.

There were angry scenes even before the count took place at the old
town hall in Blackburn.

Between 30 to 40 demonstrators shouted insults at the BNP candidate
and his supporters as they entered the building.

After a tense recount, the BNP took the seat with 578 votes to
Labour's 562, the Lib Dems 505 and the Conservatives 154, with
turnout at 39%.

The election saw Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, MP for Blackburn,
campaigning for Labour.

Blackburn has a large Asian community but has avoided the racial
tensions seen in other parts of northern England.

Politicians, trade unionists and community leaders last month began a
campaign to unseat the BNP's three councillors in Burnley.

Their election came after inter-racial rioting in Burnley and other
towns in the North West in summer last year.

The official report into the violence in June 2001 said organised
white racists had exploited clashes to exacerbate tensions and fears.

It urged the government to tackle "shockingly" divided communities in
Bradford, Burnley and Oldham, which have large British Asian
communities.

But the BNP has said its election success stems from the
marginalisation of white residents by the main political parties.

The four councillors now in office are the BNP's only success on
local councils since the short-lived election of Derek Beackon in
Tower Hamlets, London, in 1993.

A campaign by politicians and activists helped to unseat the
councillor.

Elsewhere on Thursday night, the Tories lost their overall majority
at Dacorum Borough, Hertfordshire, when Labour gained a Woodhall
seat.

Labour narrowly kept its overall majority at Bolton Borough, Greater
Manchester, when it won at Daubhill.