PROTESTERS disrupted the start of a meeting of the new political party led by the former television presenter Robert Kilroy-Silk.

Anti-racism protestors stood outside the Pack Horse Hotel, on Nelson Square, Bolton, on Wednesday night to show their disapproval of Mr Kilroy-Silk's new party, Veritas.

At one point security staff had to be called to eject a man, who was trying to stage a sit-down protest in the hotel foyer.

Members of Bolton Against Racism handed out leaflets that urged the party to tell the truth about asylum, while independent protesters accused the party of making immigrants a political scapegoat.

Following the meeting Mr Kilroy-Silk said he had nothing to say about the protests but during his speech he said: "We are all free to speak our minds.

"I want to live in a place where no man or woman is discriminated against on the basis of their race. A country based on values and tolerance."

One protester held a sign that accused the party of having fascist policies.

He said: "It's very important to keep far-right groups out of Bolton, including the BNP, UKIP and Veritas because they are trying to use racism as a political football.

"That's why people feel angry enough to come here and protest."

About 60 people attended the public meeting. In a speech that lasted just over one hour he accused Tony Blair and Michael Howard of lying over immigration.

He said: "They are both pretending that they can control immigration without leaving the European Union. We cannot. The facts are clear."

He said that the people of Bolton were fed up and being lied to and they had the opportunity to vote for Veritas - a party based on truth and honesty.

"They are fed up of the deceits and the spin and they want to be told the truth. They want people who talk to them straight, and that's what we are."

He added: "People are very angry about immigration, about asylum, about crime, about pensions and tax and those are the issues we are addressing.

"I agree with them, they have a right to be angry about all those things and we understand their anxiety and we think we can attend to the problem."

The former BBC presenter, who was fired because of a controversial newspaper column about Arabs, said that while Britain was a member of the EU its borders were wide open to a "potentially limitless" number of people.

A spokesman for Greater Manchester Police confirmed they had been called to an incident at the hotel involving a minor allegation of common assault but no arrests were made.