Balls jeered in his own constituency during burka debate

Mr Balls, who has a notional majority in the seat of Morley and Outwood, was jeered and booed by some members of the public in Morley town centre as he answered questions.

Four other candidates - Chris Beverley for the BNP, Anthony Calvert for the Conservatives, James Monaghan for the Liberal Democrats, and David Daniel for the UK Independence Party - joined Mr Balls as they mounted soapboxes to address voters directly.

A microphone was passed round the crowd during the 40-minute event, organised by The Independent newspaper, and questions were asked on issues including schools, the economy, jobs and immigration.

Members of the audience shouted "rubbish" and "answer the question" as Mr Balls responded to one woman's question about the rejection of a proposal to open a high school in Birkenshaw.

A question posed from a male member of the crowd regarding Belgium's decision to ban the burka led to one of the biggest responses from the audience.

He asked the candidates: "They're doing this (banning the burka) in the interest of women's rights, social inclusion, anti-terrorism and security. What I want to know is which of the parties are going to have the gumption to take an issue like that and really address it?"

Mr Balls answered: "We have people here who are Christian and Muslim and Jewish, and I think British values of tolerance and fair play and mutual respect mean that you don't say to people that because of their particular religion, or the colour of their skin that they are second class."

Some members of the audience clapped and cheered in support of Mr Balls while others booed and held aloft BNP posters.

He continued: "And I see your BNP signs there - I talk to people in Morley about race and immigration and what they say to me is that we have proper rules and laws on immigration. But the idea that you said, as the BNP do in their extremism, that if you are British, if you were born in our country, if you fought abroad in our armed forces, if you've got a part colour of skin, if you're black, you're second class and you shouldn't be able to be in the queue for housing, or you shouldn't be able to play football for England abroad in the World Cup - I think that racism and intolerance is extreme, it is foul and not British at all."

Around 30 members of the public cheered Mr Beverley on as he responded to Mr Balls's comments.

He was applauded as he said: "What a disgrace. What a disgrace that Ed Balls thinks he can come to Morley and insult members of the public for asking a legitimate question.

"It wasn't about people of different skin colour and it wasn't about the question of immigration, it was about the burka - it was a very specific issue.

He added: "Would the BNP ban the burka? Yes, we would - it's in our manifesto."