UKIP was today forced to cancel a high-profile event in Bradford after community centre staff refused to let the party through the door.

Figures, including Yorkshire MEP Jane Collins, had been set to appear at the Mayfield Centre, in Broadway Avenue, Marshfields, Bradford, for a public question-and-answer session.

But the party has reacted angrily after staff refused to let the event go ahead and has accused the venue of political bias.

The centre is run by community organisation Bradford Trident, and yesterday its bosses said it had a policy of not hosting party-political events.

Bradford Trident chief executive Mick Binns said when the room was booked, staff were not told it was for a Ukip meeting, only that it was a community event.

He said: "It is about being even-handed. We are a community organisation and within our community we have a large cross-section of views and opinions.

"We don't want to be affiliated to anyone.

"It's not about Ukip. We are not anti-Ukip, it's just that we are apolitical. To have political groups meeting like that would perhaps cause us problems that we don't need.

"We are sorry they were inconvenienced but they should have told us that it was a political meeting, not a community meeting."

Event organiser Owais Rajput, the party's parliamentary candidate in Bradford East, said the centre's decision not to let the event go ahead had let down around 200 members of the public who had been due to attend.

He said: "This is all about them trying to mess about with me."

Mr Rajput, a former Labour activist who defected to Ukip, disputed the suggestion that the centre did not host political meetings, claiming Labour events had been held there in the past.

And Mohammed 'Harry' Boota, the party's parliamentary candidate in Bradford West, said: "It stinks."

He added: "I could not believe it. It's called a community centre.

"They said it was a political meeting. It was a political meeting to engage the community - in a community centre. Where is the common sense?"

Mr Boota said one member of the public had offered to host the meeting at his restaurant instead, so the group reconvened at Abid's restaurant in Town Street, Pudsey, where everyone was treated to free food.

"In a round-about way, everything turned out alright," he said.