WALLINGFORD'S mayor, Betty Atkins, has defended her decision to attend a British National Party meeting.

She agreed to do so after cancelling the group's planned get-together in the town yesterday.

The party was due to meet at Centre 70, in Goldsmiths Lane, but the booking was cancelled after mayor Betty Atkins raised concerns.

The meeting was to take place days after a controversial free speech debate at the Oxford Union, featuring BNP leader Nick Griffin.

Mrs Atkins spoke to Oxfordshire BNP organiser Stephen Herbert, from Wantage, to ask him to cancel the BNP meeting.

She confirmed she had accepted an invitation to go to one of Mr Herbert's meetings to listen to what the BNP had to say.

She said: "I believe very strongly in free speech and that people have a right to express themselves.

"I will probably never agree with them, but I will always defend their right to say it. He was perfectly reasonable when I spoke to him and he agreed to cancel the meeting, so I treated him with the same courtesy."

Wallingford is made up of 2,875 households and 45 are registered as non-white, according to the 2001 census statistics.

Mr Herbert said: "It was to have been just a meeting for the membership. We organise meetings in different towns, but we do not advertise them on the website.

"Mrs Atkins was very reasonable and I understood her reasons for wanting to cancel. It was awkward because I had to ring round the local membership to say the meeting was cancelled.

"People have a great many misconceptions about the BNP and we get shown in the media as a bunch of nutters. We are not, and we have a right to our own views."

Mrs Atkins said: "On Wednesdays there is a children's ballet night and I certainly did not want the youngsters getting involved in shouting, arguments and fights if opponents of the BNP turned up. And it was just too close to that event in Oxford.

"Mr Herbert was very pleasant and understood the situation, agreed to cancel the meeting and asked if I would go to a future meeting to hear more about the BNP.

"In the interests of free speech, I said I would. I believe in free speech and listening to what people have to say even if I disagree with all my heart."

Patrick Tolani, director of Oxfordshire Racial Equality Council, said it was good that Mrs Atkins was willing to listen to the BNP and their "delusions".

He said: "When we have an opportunity, we would always condemn the BNP for what they stand for.

"But we are not like them - we encourage freedom of speech."