IF the BBC had denied the BNP the right to be represented on Question Time, it would have been a great injustice. We all have a democratic right to our own point of view, be it popular or not.

If a not very nice man and a not very nice party can win almost one million votes in the European elections, with only 30 per cent of the electorate voting, then it must serve as a wake-up call to this Government.

The true reason for the backlash and misguided attraction of the BNP is that this Government thinks it can ride roughshod over us. It is made up merely of our representatives and if we can vote them in, we can vote them out.

Nick Griffin was set up in the programme. The usual format was not adhered to and the audience was encouraged to be very hostile.

Why did the panel not discuss immigration (surely it is not a bad thing to question the lack of controls on people who are allowed into the country on temporary permits without any intention of leaving) or law and order? Why are the prisons full to bursting point and what is the ethnicity of those filling them?

Dennis Parkinson, Trimdon Village, Co Durham.