TRADE Union officials and politicians have backed the Bishop of Durham's call for increased vigilance to prevent the British National Party gaining a foothold in the region.

The Northern Echo reported yesterday how The Right Reverend Tom Wright had warned many voters were disillusioned with mainstream politics and were in danger of following extremist politics.

In an open letter, he said major political parties were in danger of becoming complacent about the threat of the BNP and needed to do more to prevent the far-right exploiting peoples frustrations.

The Bishop's letter comes as the BNP is fielding a record 30 candidates in the election for the new County Durham unitary authority.

Last night, Bishop Auckland MP Helen Goodman backed Bishop Tom's stance.

The Labour MP recently chaired two cross-party meetings in South Durham aimed at providing a united stance against the far-right.

She said: "We're all in total agreement that the BNP offers only negative policies and is not the way forward for our community.

"Fundamentally we have the opposite message to their message of hate.

"I've done two big surveys in Bishop Auckland and Shildon and I do agree that we must listen to people and we must respond to what they say and their concerns.

"I know that people feel insecure about their jobs but if we look back over the last eight years we've had £115 million of inward investment into County Durham which has created 20,000 jobs.

"I think people do feel insecure when they see factories closing, but alongside that there's others opening and expanding."

Gill Hale, the regional secretary for Unison, which is working with the TUC to form the group North East United Against the BNP, also echoed the Bishop's statement.

"It's important to speak out against the BNP and the racist policies that they're propagating, she said. "We're always encouraging politicians to speak out against the BNP.

"The BNP hide behind a mask of respectability and it helps a lot when figures show them for what they are."

Ken Booth, the regional organiser for the BNP, said: "I support what the Bishop has said to an extent, the main parties have failed the British people.

"I would rather vote for a party that has British interests at heart rather than go through the process as a candidate myself.

"It's the government's failure that's created the BNP.

"The churches are failing people and the government is failing people and they're trying to blame the BNP."