LAST night was a sad night for Burnley. The forces of bigotry won the day with three BNP candidates taking seats on the council - their best performance anywhere in the country.

While Labour regained control of Hyndburn and Rossendale and the Lib Dems made three gains in Blackburn with Darwen in Burnley the BNP's percentage of the vote reached 26 per cent - more than double what it was in the general election a year ago.

Burnley MP Peter Pike said he does not believe that everyone who voted for the BNP is racist.

"I believe people have been conned by the BNP and their racist candidates and leaders," he said.

This may be true but all those who voted for them have given an opportunity to a party which has little grasp of democracy and believes division is the way forward.

It also has to be acknowledged - and it has been said before by this newspaper - that a significant number of people in Burnley on BOTH sides of the ethnic divide are bigotted.

The vast majority of people in the town however are not and it must be remembered that 74 per cent of those who filled in ballot papers did NOT vote for the BNP.

But one of the tragedies of last night's events is that Burnley will be perceived as a racist town by the rest of the country.

What was particularly disturbing was that middle class Cliviger with Worsthorne also elected a BNP candidate giving the lie to the theory that bigotry is the preserve of the socially deprived lower working classes.

The poll in this ward shows that uncharitable views towards the ethnic minority population are held by a number of so-called middle class people.

So where do we go from here?

Community leaders, particularly Burnley Council, need to show dynamic leadership to lift the borough out of this quagmire - not just with acres of fine words but a lot of graft, perspiration, resources and real imagination.

As Lord Clarke's report showed following last summer's riots we have in Burnley a community which is not integrated. Many people of white and Asian heritage lead separate lives and do not understand each other.

Division breeds ignorance and people have to be brought together.

The alternatives are too awful to think about.