Political history was made late last night as the extremist British National Party won its first seat on Kirklees Council.

The Heckmondwike ward had been a Labour stronghold for the last five years but at 11.10pm, 39-year-old BNP candidate David Exley was declared the winner of a by-election with a majority of 114 votes over Liberal Democrat candidate Tabasum Aslam.

The far right party's victory was greeted with dismay by the Council's political leaders.

Council leader, Liberal-Democrat Councillor Kath Pinnock, said: "I am very disappointed that the people of Heckmondwike have, unfortunately just by a whisker, failed to elect a hard-working local campaigner who would work with everyone in the ward.

"The BNP has won by a mere quarter of the votes that were cast. Three-quarters of the votes were cast for candidates who believe in fairness, decency and diversity. If it (the BNP) does cause rifts in the community, it will be as a result of its actions - the responsibility lies with it."

Mr Exley, who is married with two daughters and has been a member of the BNP for just over a year, polled 1,607 votes, Tabasum Aslam, 1,493, Tim Crowther (Ind) 1,147, Florence Smith (Lab) 982, Roger Roberts (Con) 490 and Heidi Smith (Green) 76.

At the end of a tense count at Batley Town Hall the results were announced in alphabetical order.

Applause broke out as Mr Aslam and Mr Crowther's votes were read out, but only a couple of people clapped as Mr Exley's result was broadcast and the hall fell silent.

As the BNP party had arrived at the town hall earlier in the evening, anti-racist campaigners and protesters with placards greeted them with chants as a line of police kept a close eye on proceedings.

After being announced as the victor, Mr Exley said the BNP's "common sense policies" had won it the by-election and he urged the Heckmondwike community to work with him.

"Come and meet me - speak to me. I'll speak to anybody - they have nothing to fear," he said.

When asked by a member of the public what the needs of the Asian community in Heckmondwike were, Mr Exley said he had no idea but said he would "represent everybody equally - be they members of the Asian community or English community".

He was also asked if an Asian person would be allowed to join the BNP. He said he would give them an application form and said anyone who wanted to join the party would have to look at its policies and agree to work to them. When asked by another member of the public if he was racist, he replied: "No, I am not a racist."

He was then hurriedly ushered from the town hall by BNP regional organiser Nick Cass, flanked by the police andthe sped off in a waiting Range Rover.

Kirklees Labour group leader, Councillor Mehboob Khan, said: "Two-thirds of the electorate in Heckmondwike rejected the BNP. It has made lots of empty promises it will not be able to fulfil, as in Halifax and Burnley."

Yesterday's by-election was caused by the resignation in June of former Labour Councillor Tim Crowther, who cited disillusionment with Labour Party politics as his reason for quitting the party to stand as an Independent.

Following the result, Mr Crowther, 34, an IT consultant, said: "More than 1,100 votes for an Independent candidate's first attempt is an encouraging start. The BNP has been elected and that is how democracy works. If our political institutions functioned better in terms of representation then there's a higher possibility people would choose an alternative to the BNP."

The turnout in the ward, which covers the areas of Heckmondwike, Norristhorpe, Roberttown and Hartshead, was 43.8 per cent.

Coun Exley will hold the seat until next May when all seats on Kirklees Council will be up for election.

The BNP now has a total of 17 councillors in England.