A British National Party activist told a jury trying him on race hate charges relating to speeches made in West Yorkshire that he blamed "the Labour Party, the establishment and the media" for a series of race problems in Britain rather than "ethnic communities".

Mark Collett, 25, told Leeds Crown Court he denied a series of speeches he made in 2004 were intended to stir up racial hatred and said BNP supporters and activists were treated like "witches in the Middle Ages" by the media.

Collett is on trial alongside BNP leader Nick Griffin, 45, in relation to speeches they both made which were recorded by an undercover BBC reporter.

He said his only intention when he made the four speeches was to motivate his audience who, he said, were party members and supporters attending on an invitation-only basis.

Collett told the court: "My intention in the speeches was to stir up political activity. It certainly wasn't to stir up or incite any racial hatred."

He told the jury that everything he said in the speeches - including allegations of Asian rape gangs targeting white teenage girls, claims that the Bradford riots of 2001 were pre-planned and details of the preferential treatment given to asylum seekers - were all true.

He said he based everything he said on press cuttings, with the exception of one claim about a firing range being found under a mosque in Bradford which he said was based on a tip-off from a police officer.

Collett went on: "It's a story of human interest. It's 100 per cent factual and I believe that people have the right to know about it."

Explaining why he referred to asylum seekers as "cockroaches" in one speech, he said he believed this language was no worse than some used in national newspapers on the issue.

Collett complained that he and others in the BNP could never get the media to listen to them in relation to a range of stories they feel are not being reported in Britain today.

Collett, of Rothley, Leicester-shire, denies four charges of using words or behaviour intended to stir up racial hatred and four alternative charges of using words or behaviour likely to stir up racial hatred.

Griffin, of Llanerfyl, Powys, Wales, denies two charges of the first offence and two of the latter.

Collett gave evidence in his defence wearing a grey suit with a pink shirt and pink tie.

The trial continues.