COMMUNITIES Secretary Hazel Blears has called for a new drive against the BNP in the week that a list of 12,000 names and addresses of the party's membership was posted on the internet.
Blears admitted white working-class voters had turned to the BNP because they feel ignored by mainstream politicians.
Meanwhile, senior Labour figures in local government warned the BNP could even win powerful positions on police authorities if pl
ans to introduce direct elections go ahead.
The development has cast new light on the make-up and geographical spread of supporters of the BNP, who include police officers, teachers and army personnel, among others.
Sir Jeremy Beecham, Labour group leader at the Local Government Association, said yesterday that police authority elections would play into the hands of the nationalist party.
"Hazel is absolutely right that mainstream parties must redouble their efforts on grassroots action to block the rise of the BNP," he said.
"However, by pushing ahead with direct elections for policing, an area extremists would love to gain control of, the Government is leaving the door wide open to the BNP."
Sir Jeremy, also a member of Labour's ruling National Executive Committee, added that the proposals risked handing the BNP the opportunity to "govern the entire police system".
"The ongoing failure of the Home Office to consider the consequences of this policy will, I have no doubt, result in crime-fighting activity reducing in many areas, and in some places we will see the BNP and other extreme voices taking control of the police," he said.
The BNP has in recent years made electoral gains disturbing to politicians across the political spectrum.
Blears said: "We must recognise that where the BNP wins votes, it is often a result of local political failure.
"Estates that have been ignored for decades, voters taken for granted, local services that have failed, white working-class voters who feel politicians live on a different planet.
"In such a political vacuum, the BNP steps in with offers of grass-cutting, a listening ear and easy answers to complex problems."
Attacking BNP leader Nick Griffin's "cunning strategy", Blears accused the party of playing on people's "apprehensions" and peddling "pernicious but plausible lies".
The release of the membership list, which included telephone numbers, has led to fears that BNP supporters will be targets of abuse and even violence.
Police in West Yorkshire have been investigating the torching of a car near to the home of one of the people named on the list.
Blears called for a concerted fight back against the BNP.
"We must continue to campaign vigorously against the BNP: demonstrate, picket, leaflet and argue," she said.
Labour MP Frank Field, a former minister and influential backbencher, said the BNP had capitalised on politicians' failure to engage with immigration problems.
