attica .. neither myself or, as i see it, torres, are obsessed by the BNP. But i find it hard to understand how you can be so dismmisive of a situation when hundreds of thousneds of people are voting for a facist party. They have acheived very large votes across whole regions, particluarly yorks. I accept that they seem not to do well in the north east though 15% near you is bad enough, no??
you seem to have history with torres but i did not think that you do with me ( though sure we have been arguing politics lately .. i would be sad to think you see it as personal mate
) .. but it seems to colour what you say about talking about the BNP
the bnp vote is unprecedented in our political lives. To qoute UAF ( who yes obviously have an angle)
"Until recently this country has not seen the kind of rise of the extreme right that has blighted many countries elsewhere in Europe. However in the recent local elections the BNP averaged 17 per cent in the wards it contested, and averaged 20% in by-elections they have contested since then."
"BNP fail to advance but warning signals are there
With all the votes now counted the BNP performance can now be assessed fully – and it was a night of mixed fortunes. The BNP failed to make any significant breakthrough in its councillor base, and if anything slipped back in many key local authority areas, but its overall share of the vote confirms Searchlight’s fear that the BNP has the potential to be Britain’s fourth political party.
The BNP went into these elections confidently predicting that it would increase its councillor numbers from 49 to 100. However, it finished the election with a total of 50 councillors, a rise of just one. Within days the number was back down to 49 after it emerged that Mark Leat, elected in 2004 as a BNP councillor in Stoke-on-Trent, was now listed as an independent.
In the elections the BNP won nine new seats but lost eight of the nine it was defending. Its biggest gains were in Stoke-on-Trent and North West Leicestershire, where it gained three and two councillors respectively.
Table 1 Average BNP vote (no of candidates in brackets)
2003 16.7% (220)
2004 16.1% (313)
2006 19.2% (363)
2007 14.7% (742)
However, it failed to make any breakthrough in Sandwell, Kirklees, Dudley, Thurrock and Leeds. In Bradford, it gained one councillor but lost another and in Burnley one BNP councillor was re-elected but the party lost three other seats. More importantly, the BNP share of the vote in many of these key areas has declined dramatically since last year.
In Sandwell, the BNP averaged 24.6% in the wards it contested this year compared to the 33% share it achieved in 2006. In Bradford the BNP vote fell from 25.9% to 19.2%, and this election confirmed the party’s demise in Oldham, where it was only able to put forward four candidates, who averaged just 16.6% of the vote.
In several key target wards the BNP vote dropped dramatically. In 2006 the BNP polled 45.1%, 43.5% and 37.0% in the Sandwell wards of Great Bridge, Princes End and Tividale – winning all three. This year Labour decisively beat the BNP candidates, with their vote dropping to 30.1%, 34.9% and 29.8% respectively. A similar decline occurred in the BNP’s key wards in Kirklees. In 2006 the BNP won Dewsbury East and Heckmondwike with votes of 15.4% and 13.2% more than Labour. This year Labour took back both seats, with the BNP candidate in Heckmondwike over 600 votes behind.
It was in precisely these wards where Searchlight focused most of its work. It was also where, to their credit, the local political parties confronted the BNP head on."
and hope not hate says
"While the BNP's failure to win seats has certainly demoralised its activists there is absolutely no room for complacency. The media might now have decided that the BNP is on the wane but the statistics speak for themselves. The BNP averaged 14.7% of the vote in the 742 borough and district council wards it contested in England. In the Eastern region BNP candidates averaged 19.0%, closely followed by the East Midlands with 18.5%. "
And they are averaging 20% since may .. yes no seats but this is no small beer .. sorry mate but this IS of potentially serious consequence. If they turn this into a political movment we will be in serious trouble, though i agree totally with you and MC5 they are totally failing to so at present.
i think the north east scenario is of interest and it would be good of you to keep is informed of how and why they do relatively poorly there.
