A MEMBER of the controversial British National Party, known for its hard line on immigration and asylum seekers, is standing for election in one of Calne's most deprived areas.

Father-of-four Robert Baggs, 43, plans to stand as a candidate for Abberd Ward in the town council elections in May, and said the party was a viable political alternative.

"People have a pre-conceived idea that we're nasty people, but we're the same as them," said Mr Baggs, who was born and brought up in Calne.

"We're just ordinary, working class people who want Britain to be the wonderful place it was when we we were young. This impression that we are Nazis just isn't true. We do have historical links with the National Front, but we grew as a result of a separating from them."

Mr Baggs expected his decision to stand in the election would provoke controversy, but said he is prepared to put his head above the parapet for what he believes in.

Mr Baggs said he joined the party because he was sick of the Britain's obsession with political correctness and the constraints put on it by the European Union."

He said: "I am a tolerant man and not a racist. I don't hate anyone. I've got no axe to grind.

"The problem is the Government letting people into this country who are bent on taking advantage of our welfare system. If we get any large groups of asylum seekers or ethnic minorities in Calne the whole make-up of the town would change, which would create a lot of resentment among local people.

"When I was younger it seemed to be that everyone in the town knew each other, and Calne was a thriving little town. It had an ugly great factory stuck in the middle, but there was a real sense of community. There was a spirit but I think a lot of that has gone.

"If people come to this country and they want to integrate that's fine, it's just if they come here and try to change things to the way they want them there is a problem."

Some town councillors fear the election of a BNP representative will encourage fear and division.

Coun Derek Quinn said: "They're biased, prejudiced and claim they're not racist, but I think they are.

"If they were elected I don't think they would find many people in the town council who would be in sympathy with them."

Coun John Watkins said: "We live in a democracy and I understand they have the right to freedom of speech, but that doesn't make me any more comfortable living in a community that will support people like this, or actually to be in the same room as people like this."