Coun Auty, who has represented Dewsbury East since 2006, said he would bring a more moderate approach than that of current BNP leader Nick Griffin.

But one anti-BNP campaigner told the Reporter that Coun Auty was still a fascist representing a far-right party.

Coun Auty claimed no other parties were addressing the problems in Dewsbury and without action the town's culture and traditions would be lost.

He said: "In 30 years Dewsbury will not be a British town. We already have six Muslim councillors and a Muslim MP. In 30 years it will be unrecognisable to me as an indigenous British town.

"As far as I'm concerned this is a country called England and we've got our roots, our traditions, our values. I don't want to diversify.

"It isn't an issue of skin colour – that doesn't matter to me – it's the cultural thing. It's what's happened in towns like mine. I feel, and many people feel, that we're being swamped by immigration.

"Unless we can get some semblance of equality for the indigenous white Britons in areas like this, then the cohesion will go out of the window."

He said he was well aware many perceived the BNP as racists but the stigma of the party's National Front roots made him uncomfortable.

He said: "There's racism in every party – not just in the BNP. In every walk of life you'll find racism. If the BNP vanished tomorrow, racism and racists would still be there.

"I always, always respect people. I don't dislike Asian people. I don't dislike any people. In towns like Dewsbury, if you build a bit of mutual respect it benefits the whole town itself. It's far better to have that than the fear factor the media bat about that I'm going to put them all on a boat and send them home."

He said he decided to challenge Griffin, who has led the BNP since 1999, because he felt it was time for the party to become more moderate and democratic.

Griffin was acquitted at Leeds Crown Court in 2006 for inciting racial hatred. In his trial he called Islam a "vicious faith".

Coun Auty said: "You get someone like Nick, who's university educated, but Nick, I'm afraid, lives in the middle of Wales on a mountain top and he's not grassroots like I am. I know what people think and what the perceptions are and that's why I can be honest.

"What myself and a pressure group are looking for is to bring about a change so this party is looked at and perceived as a democracy and not a dictatorship."

Anti-BNP campaigner Carl Morphett, of Kirklees Unity, said Coun Auty did not stand a chance of beating Nick Griffin.

He added: "As for the notion that Colin Auty will present a more moderate face of the BNP, I'd say he is more moderate than people like Nick Griffin, but he is still in a far-right party, and I'd term him a fascist.

"The BNP vote has gone down over the last three years. It's the beginning of the end for the BNP in Kirklees and there are massive divisions within the party locally."

SEE Comment on page 22 of this week's Reporter