The North-East appears to have defied the national trend towards low turnouts at yesterday's council elections.

Although many areas around Britain recorded poor returns, Gateshead and South Tyneside witnessed high levels of interest.

Gateshead council estimated a turnout in the borough's first postal vote of 57 per cent, better than the General Election and recent ballot box council elections which saw turnouts in the region of 30 per cent.

In neighbouring South Tyneside, an estimated 52 per cent of voters turned out. Among other elections yesterday was Harrogate, with the result expected in the early hours of this morning.

In Hartlepool, Mayoral candidate H'Angus the Monkey, the mascot of Hartlepool United football team, posed for the cameras as he prepared to cast his vote.

H'Angus, real name Stuart Drummond, voted at Barnard Grove Primary School in the Hart Station area. He hopes to become Hartlepool's first elected mayor.

In Middlesbrough the result of the mayoral elections will be announced today and national attention will focus on former senior Cleveland detective Ray Mallon, who has been widely tipped to triumph.

Elsewhere in Britain, polling got off to a slow start with turnouts of around 30 per cent predicted in some London boroughs, down four per cent. Postal ballots appeared to have fared better.

The prediction of low turnouts prompted warnings that voter apathy could play into the hands of the British National Party in the wake of the success of France's far-right presidential candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen.

Commission for Racial Equality chairman Gurbux Singh called for a ''united front against racism, xenophobia and the politics of disunity''.

A joint statement from 11 Church of England leaders urged people to use their vote so the BNP does not ''gain a foothold''.

The BNP described the poll as its ''biggest push yet''. It has 68 candidates, including 22 in London and several in the North-East and was hoping for gains in Burnley and Oldham where there was race riots last summer.

Scotland Yard is investigating the British National Party over claims about election nomination documents in Bexley, south-east London.

It follows claims from several residents that they were unaware they were helping the extremists.