WHY do people vote for the BNP? Perhaps a clue lies with the "banning of Manning" (LET, May 6).

The Labour Party of old used to be made up of the kind of people who worked in the same mines, mills and factories as the white, working-class voters.

These days, the only workshop the average Labour councillor will ever see the inside of is a college lecture on "the Bakewell tart and its role in colonialist oppression," whereas the BNP councillors are factory workers, etc.

If the Labour group on Burnley Council really want to defeat the BNP, then they should drop political correctness and return to their roots -- and invite Bernard Manning back!

GEOFFREY STURDY, Trent Road, Nelson.