A FAR right party has come last in a council by-election, in which a record number of people voted.

A total of 64 per cent of people in the Chester North ward in Chester-le-Street voted in the postal ballot, which was contested by the British National Party (BNP), Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives.

At Thursday (2nd) night's count, Labour candidate Paul Ellis came first with 1,100 votes, while BNP secured just 170 votes, or 13 per cent. In the run-up to the by-election, a coalition of trade unions, religious groups and political parties joined forces to form the Chester-le-Street Unites Against BNP group, to fight the far right party.

Church leaders from Catholic, Church of England, Methodist and United Reformed churches also took a joint stand, issuing a joint statement urging people to vote for candidates whose policies aimed to 'build a just and caring society.'

Yesterday, Mike Hartman, from the Tyne and Wear Anti-Fascist Society said: "The BNP has developed a one-size fits all campaign and assume they can go anywhere and stir up hatred against asylum seekers. The postal vote will have increased the turn-out, but I certainly think the anti-BNP campaign will have made an impact."

But the BNP said it still viewed its 170 votes as 'quite good.'

Its candidate was Scott Morrison, a married former soldier who fought in the first Gulf War and who now works as an IT specialist. He said he had campaigned on asylum seekers and the Gulf war.

Mr Morrison, from Sacriston said: "We consider it to be quite a good result, it's our first attempt in Chester-le-Street."

The seat became vacant when Labour councillor Keith Lambert died in June. His successor, Paul Ellis, 44, who works for Go North East in Chester-le-Street, said he was impressed with the turn-out, as was council leader Linda Ebbatson.

She said: "The turn-out of 64 per cent is amazing. I see it as a really healthy response, not just for postal voting, but also democracy."

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