MAIL Online: Fears over rising racial tension mounted last night after the British National Party scored a shock by-election victory.
The extremist party snatched a council seat in the Lincolnshire market town of Boston - where migrants make up a quarter of the population.
Anti-racism campaigners warned that the BNP surprise triumph would fuel 'scaremongering' about foreigners and lead to an increase in 'violence and threats'.
The town has a huge numbers of migrants, especially from Portugal and Poland, who take low-paid work on farms picking flowers, fruit and vegetables and in food processing plants.
Critics have accused the Government of failing to prepare cash-strapped councils for the influx of immigrants by giving them the resources to invest in public services.
This has left schools, health facilities and transport struggling to cope with greater numbers.
The resurgence of the BNP will also spark fears among the main political parties that the radical group could prosper at future by-elections in the run-up to the next General Election.
In a result which revived huge concerns, the far-right party won its first district council seat in Lincolnshire in the Fenside ward of Boston. >>> By Ian Drury | November 14, 2008
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