End result of ignorance of main stream parties

chris_d_rat

The UK election results may have ended in another Labour Party victory
but this is by no means the whole picture. Well over 200,000 British
people voted BNP (British National Party) which is an extreme far
right party campaigning for restrictions on immigration. It is now the
fourth largest political party in the UK and this is all because of
the refusal of the main stream parties to take the issue of
immigration seriously. Let this be a wake up call to Tony Blair and
indeed Bertie Ahern.

gandalf

It could also be said the rise of the BNP is an indication of the decline in education standards as well.

m1ke

Immigration isn't a priority issue for people in Britain. If it was they would have voted for Michael Howard. They didn't like the way he focused on immigration and other areas so they didn't vote for him, simple enough.

The BNP's emergence is similar to that of other radical right-wing parties over the last few decades in Europe. These parties exist to capture the vote of people who have been disaffected through the experience of years of democracy. A by-product of democracy is that about 5% of people become mentally stultified because they don't know anything else besides fair government and a free society and interpret it as the cause of all their problems.

Sparks

How does a party that gets 200,000 votes out of fifty million people become the fourth largest party in the country?
Especially since the results show that the fourth largest party in the UK is the DUP, and that in fact the BNP were the eighth largest party in the UK, but that they have no votes whatsoever in Westminister, have only 0.7% of the popular vote cast, and while that's up from 0.2% last time, it's hardly cause for radical policy change to fall into line with what that bunch of neonazi loonies want...

A Dub in Glasgo

Actually 8th, not 4th

1. Labour
2. Tory
3. Lib Dem
4. UKIP
5. SNP
6. Green
7. DUP
8. BNP

Victor

Sparks wrote:

have only 0.7% of the popular vote cast,

Lynda Gilby (Vote for Yourself Rainbow Dream Ticket) did as well in South Belfast, by herself.

chris_d_rat

BNP website states that they are the fourth largest, thats where I got that figure. Also, Michael Howards party has increased its support so clearly the British are concerned about immigration. So long as the liberal free thinking see no threat to their culture and heritage by mass immigration, parties like the BNP will thrive.

A Dub in Glasgo

Try looking beyond the horses mouth

Edit: They did poll strongly in some of the consituencies they stood in. For example, they polled 16.9% in Barking, 13.1% in Dewsbury and 10.3% in Burnley

chris_d_rat

The BNP are the fourth largest party in the UK, not in north of Ireland. Obviously they do not view Ulster as part of the UK.

A Dub in Glasgo

eh?

UK is Britain and NI, remove NI and you are left with Britian. So they are the 4th biggest party in Britain? No actually they would be 7th (DUP comes out)

I think what you are trying to say is that on average, the BNP are the 4th biggest party in the constituencies they stood in.

BuffyBot

The BNP are the fourth largest party in the UK, not in north of Ireland. Obviously they do not view Ulster as part of the UK.

I assume you mean for the purpose of their figures? Otherwise, the mind boggles.

Also, I suspect they're basing their claims, not on the total amount of Westminster seats up for grabs, but the only the ones they had a candidate running in.

Sparks

chris_d_rat wrote:

Obviously they do not view Ulster as part of the UK.

Now that is being tough on immigration...

cdebru

chris_d_rat wrote:

The BNP are the fourth largest party in the UK, not in north of Ireland. Obviously they do not view Ulster as part of the UK.

and they would be right Ulster is not part of the UK there are 9 counties in Ulster

mycroft

chris_d_rat wrote:

BNP website states that they are the fourth largest, thats where I got that figure. Also, Michael Howards party has increased its support so clearly the British are concerned about immigration. So long as the liberal free thinking see no threat to their culture and heritage by mass immigration, parties like the BNP will thrive.

I'm unclear firstly you're warning about the rise of the BNP then you're supporting their claims?

chris_d_rat

mycroft wrote:

I'm unclear firstly you're warning about the rise of the BNP then you're supporting their claims?

Absolutely not, I am not supporting their claims, I said that THEY claim to be the fourth largest party in the Uk, excluding Ulster. The rise of far right parties should concern everyone. It is the duty of the main stream moderates to address the problem of mass immigration in both the UK and in Ireland. This will inevitably weaken the BNP's position and rise to power.

Undergod

The reason people choose extreme parties is that, in most western countries, mainstream parties no longer have any actual ideological basis.

To take the UK as an example, the Labour Party have fought with trade unions (the Firefighter's Union comes to mind) and the Conservative Party were promising to improve public health services and public education if they got elected.

Sparks

The rise of far right parties

From 0.2% to 0.5% is a rise mathematically, but frankly, not worth worrying over in real terms. They're still on a par with the Monster Raving Loony Party.

BuffyBot

From 0.2% to 0.5% is a rise mathematically

That figure is misleading somewhat - they didn't stand in every seat unlike the major parties. In some of seats they did stand in, they captured a not altogether dismal percentage of the votes. It would be unwise to dismiss the BNP as being on a par with the MRLP

The next local elections in the U.K. will be the true test of the BNP. Smaller parties tend to do well in local elections (voters often support them as a protest vote) rather than general elections (in which voters normally swing back to the main parties). If they field as many candidates in the local elections as they did in the general elections and capture a lot of the protest votes coupled with organic growth of the party's support base , we could be seeing a lot more of the BNP

Victor

Actually, 37 local councils did have elections on Thursday and the BNP won none out of 2,392 seats in England. I don't think the BNP are running in the North.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/vote2005/locals/html/region_99999.stm

Maybe they meant they were the fourth biggest racist party or something?

dahamsta

chris_d_rat wrote:

The BNP are the fourth largest party in the UK, not in north of Ireland. Obviously they do not view Ulster as part of the UK.

According to vote share, they'd also need to remove Scotland. And the Greens. And UKIP.

The BNP are liars? Who knew?

adam

Quantum

chris_d_rat wrote:

The UK election results may have ended in another Labour Party victory
but this is by no means the whole picture. Well over 200,000 British
people voted BNP (British National Party) which is an extreme far
right party campaigning for restrictions on immigration. It is now the
fourth largest political party in the UK and this is all because of
the refusal of the main stream parties to take the issue of
immigration seriously. Let this be a wake up call to Tony Blair and
indeed Bertie Ahern.

I would suggest that a tiny percentage of people in every country are educationally challenged and prone to buy into the kind of naive and bigoted nonsense peddled by parties such as this. It has no implications for the major parties