A NORTH West MEP has launched a campaign in the European Parliament to save British War Graves in Belgium and France.

The move comes after Belgium extended a motorway through the Ypres/Passchendale Battlefield site. France intends to build an airport on the Somme battlefield.

Sir Robert Atkins has slammed the European's intentions. He said: "I and all my Tory colleagues in the European Parliament are appalled at this insensitive and brutal desecration of our much-revered war graves."

The North West MEP, whose Grandfather fought at Passchendale and on the Somme, initiated, and will participate in, a British delegation to the Belgian and French governments to protest at the proposals.

He added: "Many British people will be deeply shocked and saddened at the prospect of both these battlefields suffering at the hands of the developers particularly since, in the French case, the graveyards were given to Britain in perpetuity.

"As a former Minister for both Transport and Planning, I know that there must be alternatives. I urge the two governments to recognise the deep emotional commitment of British people to these sites."