Cllr Adrian Marsden was re-elected to the council in June

Adrian Marsden is now a member of the Race Equality and Community Cohesion Working Group at Calderdale Council in West Yorkshire.

Committee member and Labour councillor, Mohammed Najib, described the decision as "very, very disappointing".

Cllr Marsden is one of three BNP members on the council.

Biggest joke

All three were re-elected at the recent local elections.

"I have been elected to represent the people in my ward and that means getting involved in all aspects of the council's business, including working parties," said Cllr Marsden.

He stated that he had a clear idea of how to end the area's racist problems and added that the "majority" of alleged racist assaults in the area involved members from the ethnic minority community attacking white people.

"The other parties put their members of ethnic minorities on this working party but surely it should represent the racial make-up of the council," he said.

"Don't white people of Calderdale count?"

But Cllr Najib said something must be done about the councillor's appointment to the eight-member committee.

"It is just the biggest joke ever to appoint someone whose policies are racist to a committee aimed at making sure communities are brought together," he said.

Conservative council leader John Ford confirmed that Cllr Marsden had been nominated to the committee by his party but assured people that extreme views voiced by any member would not be tolerated.