WITH electioneering beginning in earnest this week, the three main contenders for the marginal Ilkley seat unusually see eye to eye on one vital issue.

Abhorrence of the British National Party (BNP) and its leader, Nick Griffin, who will also contest the seat, unites the candidates of the three main political parties.

Mr Griffin has put the constituency of Keighley and Ilkley under the national spotlight. And the involvement of the BNP, according to Labour candidate Ann Cryer, gives voters a unique opportunity to give a slap in the face to a party which seeks to exploit racial differences and harm community relations.

She said: "The people in Ilkley need to know that if this man gets a foothold in politics here the repercussions will be horrendous. Extremists have no place here.

"The sort of thing they are looking at is marginal seats and divided communities. If he were to lose his deposit and we gave him a mauling - we are going to make election history."

In council elections last year, the BNP saw four councillors elected in Bradford, two of them in Keighley. And Mrs Cryer said the party as a whole had tried to exploit tensions caused by issues in the town in including reports of Asian men 'grooming' young white girls for sexual abuse.

But if people showed through the ballot box their contempt for bigotry, a major blow could be struck against extremist politics.

Mrs Cryer said: "People can make a historic vote and damage him irrecoverably. The whole of the country's media is looking at Keighley and Ilkley. "Everybody is watching - for the sake of everyone living here we have to make sure that Keighley and Ilkley do not have a bad reputation for extremism. The more we can reduce their vote the better it is for the future."

Conservative candidate Karl Poulsen was of a similar mind. He said: "We said very strongly from the word go that we abhor the BNP policies. There is common ground between us and Labour clearly. I hope everybody will come out and vote."

But Mr Poulsen said he was confident that the BNP would not be well supported either in Keighley or Ilkley. He said: "I have yet to find a person on the doorstep who has said they are voting for the BNP."

In council elections last year he said that less than five per cent of the electorate voted for the BNP. "They are not a serious force in particular as last year's results show in terms of the numbers they attract. It is between Labour and Conservative parties," said Mr Poulsen.

"I really think that the we have to be careful about giving the BNP the oxygen of publicity. They are very small party and reach a very insignificant number of people. Giving them free air time will be to their benefit."

Nader Fekri, the Liberal Democrat candidate, called for a big turnout at the election.

He said: "It seems to me ludicrous that back in January in war-torn Iraq with the very real threat of death and destruction and bombs and shooting, nearly two-thirds of the electorate of Iraq turned out to exercise their democratic right, whereas in this country we recorded our lowest turnout at the last election.

"Of course in situations such as these extreme parties and those on the fringes, such as the BNP, give a conflated image of their true strength, and their support in the community.

"I would love to starve them of the oxygen of publicity. However, I do feel that their lies and misinformation must be challenged wherever it pops up."

Nick Cass, Yorkshire Regional Organiser for the BNP, said that the party would be quite happy to debate with the other three parties over their policies.

And as for the other three parties being united on distaste for the BNP he said: "That just shows there is no difference between the Labour, Lib-Dems and Conservatives. There is only one real opposition to the three parties."

On their description of BNP policies as abhorrent, Mr Cass said: "That is just silly name calling - they cannot argue with our commonsense policies. We are not interested in name calling."

l The General Election has been called for May 5. Official nominations for candidates open tomorrow and the deadline is 4pm on Tuesday. Mrs Cryer has been the sitting MP in Keighley since 1997.