Minister says BNP tempting voters

[Mr Grimsdale]

Minister says BNP tempting voters (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4913164.stm)
White working class voters are being "tempted" by the British National Party as they feel Labour is not listening to their concerns, a minister has said.
Employment minister Margaret Hodge said the BNP could win seats in her Barking constituency in May's council polls.

She said the area's "difficult" change from a white area to a multi-racial community had caused some people to seek out "scapegoats".

The BNP said Labour were ignoring fears over "mass immigration" to the UK

In last year's general election the BNP polled third in Barking, east London, receiving 17% of the vote.

'Frightened'

Mrs Hodge told BBC Radio 4's The World This Weekend: "The political class as a whole is often frightened of engaging in the very difficult issues of race and...the BNP then exploits that and try and create out of a perception a reality which is not the reality of people's lives."

She added that Labour had to promote its achievements to the electorate.

"We also have to go out and say very, very strongly the benefits of the new, rich multi-racial society which is part of this part of London for me."

She said the change from a white working class community to a multi-racial community was "difficult".

"In that context, if people find there are things they can't access, you very quickly look for a scapegoat. That is what is happening," Mrs Hodge said.

"If we are to counter that perception - which the BNP seek to exploit and Migrationwatch fans - if we are to counter that we need to go out and we need to engage in a very direct way with all our voters."

The Sunday Telegraph reported that Mrs Hodge said many constituents were angry at the lack of housing and asylum seekers being housed in the area by inner London councils.

Mrs Hodge told the paper she has been out campaigning two days a week in an attempt to counter the BNP efforts.

She has found that as many as eight out of 10 white families admit they are tempted to vote BNP.


"That's something we have never seen before, in all my years. Even when people voted BNP they used to be ashamed to vote BNP," she said.

Immigration debate

The BNP said the party had been demonised by the "far left" for talking about immigration.

BNP spokesman Phil Edwards said: "People are being tempted by the BNP because Labour and the Tories don't have any inclination to debate the effect of mass immigration on communities in Britain.

He went on: "In a democracy we should have all opinions. We should debate whether mass immigration is a good thing."

The BNP said Labour was "culpable, it's mainly their fault that people in places like Dagenham and Barking have become so alienated."

He said that it was up to the BNP to "sort out the mess that Labour has created".

[Mr Grimsdale]

More 'considering voting for BNP' (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4915096.stm)
Anger with the main parties has led more people to consider voting for the British National Party, a report for a social policy research group says.
The Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust said up to 25% of voters said they "might vote" for the far-right party.

The BNP said the report reflected voter "tension" about multi-cultural Britain.

But Home Office minister Andy Burnham said he believed support for the BNP was very localised - and in many cases represented a "protest vote".

The report echoes fears by Employment Minister Margaret Hodge that voters may be tempted by the BNP in May's local elections in England.

Underlying support

The authors asked focus groups about their voting views and looked at a series of opinion polls that asked people which party they might consider voting for.

It revealed "underlying support" for the BNP rather than voting intentions, said one of the authors, Professor Peter John of Manchester University.

"This is a very hypothetical question," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"It is not what party you will vote for, but who you might vote for."

Mrs Hodge said many white working-class voters in her east London constituency of Barking said they would consider voting for the party.

Prof John also said the far-right party tended to have more support in predominantly white, working class areas.

East London voters interviewed for the study said they felt "let down" by the main parties.

"They feel their voices have not been heard," he said.

However, Home Office minister Andy Burnham dismissed the likelihood of the BNP becoming a stronger electoral force.

"I think the report that has been published ... reflects a growing tendency towards protest voting, particularly at local elections," he said

"But I think things have got to be kept in proportion. There's no way the BNP will get anything close to 25%."

In the 2005 general election, the party raised its total number of votes by 0.5% to gain 0.7% - or 192,850 votes.

It gained support in the 2004 European Parliament elections, increasing its votes by 3.9% to gain 4.9% of the vote, but failed to win a seat.

The BNP has courted controversy over its policies, which include a total ban on immigration, and the forced deportation of illegal immigrants from the UK.

BNP spokesman Phil Edwards said the Rowntree report reflected unease among voters about Britain's shift towards a multicultural society.

He said Britain had moved from a "racially homogeneous society ... into one where the cultures are quite alien."

"That does add quite a lot of tensions and stresses," Mr Edwards said.

"What we are trying to do is preserve the traditional culture and identity of Britain," he added.

'More seats'

The BNP has said it is putting up more candidates than ever before - 356 - for May's local elections.

It currently has 15 councillors across England, and said at its campaign launch on Good Friday that it aimed to add "another 15 or 20" seats.

The Conservative social justice policy spokesman, Iain Duncan Smith, said people were considering voting for the BNP because they mistakenly believed that the party would improve housing and reduce crime.

"I've been horrified and worried by the degree to which people in difficult communities no longer consider Westminster politics to be anything to do with the solutions that they need to have."

'Simplistic solutions'

He said that was why "they start turning to others who have what maybe simplistic solutions".

Liberal Democrat President Simon Hughes said the main parties had only themselves to blame if people were turning away from them.

He said successive Tory and Labour governments had failed to provide enough affordable housing where families wished to live.


Operation Black Vote, a group which campaigns to make politics more multi-racial, agreed that voters in run-down areas felt the government had let them down.


"In these areas, deprivation and poverty exist," Simon Woolley, national co-ordinator for Operation Black Vote, told BBC Radio Five Live.

"Now that's a genuine debate to be had. ... It's nothing to do with black people."

The report, prepared by the Democratic Audit and funded by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust, is due to be published next week.

[Mr Grimsdale]

Parties face up to BNP challenge (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4916614.stm)
MPs from the main political parties have accepted that they need to face up to the electoral challenge posed by the British National Party.
Research carried out for the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust has suggested that up to 25% of people have thought about voting for the far-right party.

Both the Tories and the Liberal Democrats say disillusionment with government institutions is to blame.

But ministers say any increase in BNP backing would just be a "protest vote".

Home Office minister Andy Burnham dismissed the likelihood of the BNP becoming a stronger electoral force.

"They pose a very localised threat and I am worried that if we give them too much coverage, it can back up the notion that they are a potent protest vote."

However the Rowntree report echoes comments by Employment Minister Margaret Hodge, who said voters may be tempted by the BNP, in May's local elections in England next month.

Former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith, who is chairing the party's social justice policy group, said he was not surprised to see the BNP's message gaining purchase in disadvantaged areas.

"What we have picked up in these very difficult communities is the collapse in the quality of life for so many people," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

Communities were frustrated over "things like poor housing, inability to get work, the collapse of manual labour, no educational training, anti-social behaviour on the streets, the cleanliness of the street", said Mr Duncan Smith.

"The whole sense of the quality of life in these communities has become a rich feeding ground for people who want to stigmatise others as being the cause of this."

He went on: "They now feel - and this is the bit that worries me - that there is a bigger gap between the government and the governed in these areas than there has been in modern times."

Liberal Democrat President Simon Hughes urged voters not to be taken in by the "simplistic promises" of the BNP, and said that the main parties had only themselves to blame if people were turning away from them.

"If voters are unhappy with conventional parties, one of the key reasons is because successive Tory and Labour governments have failed to provide enough affordable housing where families wish to live," he said.

Tensions

The authors of the research asked focus groups about their voting views and looked at a series of opinion polls that asked people which party they might consider voting for.

Professor Peter John of Manchester University, said the report showed "underlying support" for the BNP rather than voting intentions

"It is not what party you will vote for, but who you might vote for," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

Prof John also said the far-right party tended to have more support in predominantly white, working class areas.

"They feel their voices have not been heard," he said.

The BNP has courted controversy over its policies, which include a total ban on immigration, and the forced deportation of illegal immigrants from the UK.

In the 2005 general election, the party raised its total number of votes by 0.5% to gain 0.7% - or 192,850 votes.

BNP spokesman Phil Edwards said the Rowntree report reflected unease among voters about Britain's shift towards a multi-cultural society.

"That does add quite a lot of tensions and stresses," Mr Edwards said.

"What we are trying to do is preserve the traditional culture and identity of Britain," he added.

The BNP has said it is putting up more candidates than ever before - 356 - for May's local elections.

Operation Black Vote, a group which campaigns to make politics more multi-racial, agreed that voters in run-down areas felt the government had let them down.

"In these areas, deprivation and poverty exist," Simon Woolley, national co-ordinator for Operation Black Vote, told BBC Radio Five Live.

"Now that's a genuine debate to be had. ... It's nothing to do with black people."

The report, prepared by the Democratic Audit and funded by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust, social policy research group, is due to be published on April 25.

[Mr Grimsdale]

Come on, just say "disgusting" or something else in a similar indignant tone.

What I can't understand is Bush's closest foreign ally is led by an alleged socialist.

Bush is so bleedin' left wing!

[Nickdfresh]

Originally posted by Mr Grimsdale
Come on, just say "disgusting" or something else in a similar indignant tone.

What I can't understand is Bush's closest foreign ally is led by an alleged socialist.

Bush is so bleedin' left wing!

Actually, he is...

Socialist, and National socialist...

Spend spend spend! Corporate welfare for the oil companies...

[Mr Grimsdale]

With help from Japanese and Chinese banks!