Mr Cook told BBC One's Breakfast with Frost that the report, claiming Labour had been scared off mayoral votes in Birmingham and Bradford, was untrue.

We don't want racism and fascism getting a toehold in Britain's democracy

Robin Cook Leader of the Commons

He said: "We are not scared of the BNP (British National Party) - and neither should we be."

The party had stood in less than 1% of the seats being contested and they had won less than 10% of those that they had contested, he said.

"Let's keep this in perspective - this is not a breakthrough by the far-right, but equally we want to keep them in their place... we don't want racism and fascism getting a toehold in Britain," he said.

'Not racist'

But BNP councillors say they are neither racists nor Nazis.

Speaking at their first press conference since being elected in Burnley on Thursday, three newly-elected councillors told journalists the BNP merely wants Government money to be allocated fairly.

We are only three on a council of 45 who probably will not listen to anything we suggest

Terry Grogan, BNP Councillor

They complained that specifically targeted funds were being channelled into one area of the town at the expense of others.

The councillors said they expect their new jobs to be "difficult".

"We are only three on a council of 45 who probably will not listen to anything we suggest," Councillor Terry Grogan said.

All three said they had no policy to repatriate ethnic minorities in Burnley but added that the party would be willing to help "if they want to go back".

Monkey business

Further question marks about the mayoral system had been raised by the election of Hartlepool's monkey mascot Stuart Drummond as the town's mayor.

But scrapping the system might prove complicated - many mayors have either been created already or are in the process of being created and, barring draconian government action, cannot be uncreated.

Despite Downing Street denials on Friday, Tony Blair is long-thought to have lost enthusiasm for the mayoral idea - a process which started with the election of ex-Labour Ken Livingstone as Mayor of London, after he stood as an independent.

The Sunday Telegraph claimed that the government was shelving plans for mayoral votes in Birmingham and Bradford because of fears that the far-right might perform well.

A bananas policy

It says that the decision to hold referendums this year had been due to be rubber-stamped by local government minister Nick Raynsford.

But, the newspaper says, the decision has been referred to a committee including representatives from Downing Street, the Home Office, and the Department for Transport, local government and the regions.

Another aspect of the English local elections, which may have an impact on the next general election, was the increase in turnout to 35%.

Mr Cook said that he was particularly impressed by the near-doubling of the proportions of people voting where all-postal ballots were held.

He said that this showed that in many cases people had not been apathetic, and would vote if there was a system for voting which was convenient or suited their lifestyle.

However a decision on whether to extend the postal voting system to widespread use in a general election would not be made until after a full Electoral Commission report into the various voting pilots, which also included text message and e-mail voting.