THE government is considering a crackdown against British National Party activists trying to use trade unions to spread race hate.

Trade and Industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt today promised action to allow union bosses to discipline or even expel racists active in their organisations.

One of her aides said that train drivers union ASLEF and postal union CWU had both experienced problems with BNP activists trying to organise and use the union to spread racist literature.

He said that Mrs Hewitt was particularly concerned at the possibility that this kind of activity could attempt to exploit the fears in areas such as Burnley, Blackburn, Bradford and Oldham where the BNP had been making gains on the local councils and could spark a repeat of the riots of two years ago.

In her speech to the Labour Party conference in Bournemouth today Mrs Hewitt promised action to produce "fairness for every worker, whatever their race or religion."

Following ASLEF general secretary Mick Rix raising the issue of the BNP she promised "a crackdown on the race haters."

She said: "We have heard again today about the problems caused by BNP activists infiltrating our trade unions. So I can announce that as part of the employment rights review, we will take action to ensure that unions can deal with those who try to use trade unionism to peddle their racism."

Mrs Hewitt's aide said that under current employment and trade union law it was very difficult for unions to either discipline or expel racists who infiltrated their organisations and then tried to organise meetings or post literature through the system to encourage racist behaviour.