C5 feared the film would stir up racial tension

The five-minute broadcast featured the mother of a teenage girl who claims her daughter was drugged and raped by Asian men in Keighley, West Yorkshire.

An edited version of the broadcast was shown on Friday but with much of its script blanked out.

Meanwhile, BBC1 and BBC2 on Friday aired a completely different BNP film.

Programme code

A Five spokesman said large parts of the commentary in the new broadcast had been obscured by bleeps and wind sound effects so as to render it "largely incomprehensible".

The film carried a caption saying: "Unfortunately, Channel 5 have demanded so many changes to this party election broadcast that the BNP cannot comply with them."

A BNP spokesman said the party had cut out criticism of West Yorkshire police and made other changes.

The broadcast, which also criticised the BBC for failing to tell the truth, complained: "The police and press fall over themselves to pretend that violent anti-white racism is not a problem."

It's going to leave people either confused or angry BNP leader Nick Griffin on the edited broadcast

Party leader Nick Griffin said: "We supplied Channel Five with a new version of the broadcast, which is a commentary on politically correct censorship.

"It's going to leave people either confused or angry."

Mr Griffin said it was obvious what the film was trying to discuss "but in today's Britain there are problems which we cannot discuss".

The party is entitled to an election broadcast under electoral law, but Five said the original film broke its programme codes.

"Five has taken the decision not to transmit it as we feel it is likely to stir up racial hatred, as prohibited by the existing Programme Code," a Five spokesman said.

The five-minute election broadcast was one of five BNP broadcasts to be shown on terrestrial television stations in England, Scotland and Wales this week.

'Censorship'

The Five broadcast was the only one of the five to feature the alleged "grooming" of young white girls by Asian men, in areas where the BNP is fielding local election candidates.

The BNP accused Five of "censorship" and said it was being denied freedom of speech "on the whims of the broadcasting companies".

A separate, completely different BNP election broadcast was aired in England by BBC1 and BBC2.

This version did not include any reference to the rape story, but attracted protests by some 100 campaigners who gathered outside the BBC in West London on Friday night before the film went on air.

The protest was organised by United Against Fascism, who carried placards reading "No BNP on the licence fee" and "Pull the plug on the Nazi thugs".

The Five broadcast was filmed in response to the postponement of Channel 4's Edge Of The City documentary last week, described on the BNP website as being like a party political broadcast for them.

The programme was pulled this week after pressure from West Yorkshire police who argued it risked increasing racial tension in the run-up to the 10 June local elections.