Britain's shadow immigration minister Phil Woolas has been ordered to forfeit his seat in Parliament after High Court judges ruled he lied during his election campaign.

The judges heard Mr Woolas ran a "risky" campaign, stirring up racial tensions in campaign leaflets by suggesting his opponent Elwyn Watkins was pandering to Muslim militants.

Mr Woolas was also accused of wrongly stating Mr Watkins had not lived in his constituency prior to the election.

The judges found Mr Woolas knowingly made false statements and declared the May poll result void.

It is the first time in 99 years a general election result has been overturned in court.

Mr Woolas has been fined and banned from entering the election re-run, but he will fight the ruling.

He says the judgement will "chill political speech".