THE British National Party has begun recruiting new members in Blackburn following its Burnley election success.

A second meeting of the far-right political organisation is set to be held in Blackburn on Thursday.

And BNP opponents have spent part of the weekend handing out leaflets in Blackburn town centre urging people to join a rally against the party.

Simon Bennett, the BNP's spokesman in Burnley, today refused to name which venue they would be using but police today confirmed they expected a meeting to take place at the Manxman pub on the Higher Croft estate.

Police are now preparing to monitor any protest and Chief Inspector Neil Smith said: "The BNP are perfectly entitled to hold meetings here."

The BNP, led nationally by Nick Griffin, won three seats in the local elections in Burnley earlier this month.

Mr Bennett said today that they believed they could be equally successful in Blackburn because the town suffers many of the same problems as Burnley.

In Burnley, the BNP pledged to ensure money was more evenly distributed, claiming that most the borough's cash was ploughed into Asian-dominated areas.

Every councillor was up for re-election in Burnley this year because ward boundaries had changed.

This meant most voters had three votes. The BNP urged people to use one vote for them and the other two for the party they normally supported.

Blackburn with Darwen holds all-out elections in 2004, meaning that, like Burnley this year, most people will have three votes each.

Mr Bennett said: "We are trying to set up a structure in Blackburn and there is a lot of support for us.

"The election success in Burnley has created a lot more interest in us across East Lancashire.

"Blackburn has a lot of the same problems as Burnley and people in Blackburn feel frustrated by what is happening."

Chief Inspector Neil Smith from Blackburn Police said: "We know leaflets have been handed out and we are monitoring the situation.

"If there is a protest we will attend but the BNP are entitled to hold meetings.

"There is nothing we can do to stop them."