NIGEL Evans revealed today that he was refusing to sign the controversial pledge that general election candidates should not play the "race card" as the row on the issue grew.

The Ribble Valley Tory MP said he was originally intending to sign the document until it turned into a major dispute.

The news came as the man who sparked the row -- retiring Yorkshire Tory MP John Townend -- raised the stakes.

Mr Townedn, the first Tory to refuse to sign the document from the Commission for Racial Equality, said today it was a bid to gag people from talking about immigration and asylum seekers.

He has written to the CRE chairman Gurbux Singh saying his organisation "causes more racial problems than it solves" and has claimed Labour wants Britain to become "a mongrel race."

Today Mr Evans said: "I am not going to sign it. I have changed my mind. Originally I was. I have read the document and there is nothing I disagree in it. But now it's become such a political row I've decided not to sign it.

"This is becoming something of a political football."

While Mr Evans said he would raise the issue of asylum seekers, he said he would not dream of playing the race card or saying anything to increase tensions.