A LABOUR MP has joined calls for a councillor embroiled in a row over allegedly racist election leaflets to quit his seat on an Hyndburn Council's new cabinet.

Coun Douglas Deakin took the council's personnel portfolio after last month's election.

During the election campaign, Labour activists claim he distributed racist leaflets on behalf of Huncoat Conservative candidate Peter Cottam, which said the village was being turned into an 'asylum seekers' ghetto' and crime would rocket.

The Commission for Racial Equality has already called on Conservative Party bosses to censure Coun Deakin for the leaflets, which he admits he sent out but maintains were not racist. Now Labour councillors, backed by Hyndburn MP Greg Pope, want Coun Deakin to stand down from his new role, claiming his extremist views make him unsuitable for the job.

Mr Pope said: "No mainstream political party would allow someone with such extreme opinions to hold a senior post.

"Coun Deakin cannot possibly continue in the council cabinet. He should resign."

Labour group leader Coun Ian Ormerod said: "At the centre of the personnel role are issues like equal opportunities, which Coun Deakin's political views are obviously at odds with.

"His actions over the asylum issue resulted in the British National Party sending out disgustingly vile literature to Huncoat.

"Coun Deakin is not fit to serve on the cabinet and he should do the decent thing and resign immediately."

Speaking to the Lancashire Evening Telegraph, Coun Deakin refused to resign, saying: "The leaflets weren't racist, they were simply telling people what is happening in other areas of the country.

"The equal opportunities role as a whole is handled by somebody else and not by me.

"There is no need for me to resign and I won't. "