Partridge
04-17-2006, 01:41 PM
25% of voters 'considering BNP'
Guardian (http://politics.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,329459107-110415,00.html)
Up to a quarter of voters are considering supporting the far right British National party, according to a draft report for a social policy research group. The authors of the study for the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust said today that feelings of "powerlessness and frustration" with the main political parties had led to increasing numbers indicating that they might vote for the BNP.
The claims follow a warning by the employment minister, Margaret Hodge, that disillusioned white, working-class voters were deserting Labour for the BNP. She said that as many as eight out of 10 white families in her Barking constituency in east London admitted that they were tempted to vote BNP in forthcoming council elections.
One of the study's authors, Professor Peter John of Manchester University, said the research suggested many voters in white working-class areas feel their concerns are ignored.
"They think they have been let down by the main parties. They feel their voices have not been heard, the main parties have ignored them," he told the BBC's Today programme.
"I think if I was in the main parties, I would be worried about this, that I have not talked about an issue which one of my core constituencies thinks is important."
He said that focus groups were conducted with voters in east London as part of the Rowntree report, but stressed that the levels of underlying support uncovered by the report would not necessarily translate into electoral success for the BNP.
"This is a very hypothetical question. It is not what party you will vote for, but who you might vote for. The idea is to try to tap into some underlying attitudes which may translate into electoral support, but may not and in the past have not," he said.
The study also analysed the wards in which the BNP enjoyed most support and found they were "white working-class areas" with little racial diversity, Prof John said.
He also accused the BNP of spreading "myths" which had particular potency in areas experiencing significant levels of change.
Phill Edwards, a BNP spokesman, said that during the last 40 years Britain had been transformed from "a racially homogeneous society" into one "where the cultures are now quite alien".
"That does add quite a lot of tensions and stresses," he said. "There are borders around countries. People require passports to move around. Borders are there to protect population groups, to give security and freedom, democracy and identity to population groups.
"These people shouldn't just be allowed to wander wherever they like. The fact of the matter is that people who come from these countries in the Third World, many of them do not share our culture and identity. They bring with them their internecine, inter-tribal warfare, they bring with them ailments and diseases and it does cause a lot of frustration."
The Home Office minister, Andy Burnham, said indications of growing readiness to consider a vote for the BNP reflected a trend towards protest voting, especially at local elections, but he played down the significance of the party's threat.
"When people hear their views, I think they will see them for what they are," he told Today. "But there is a danger in giving undue prominence to the threat that they pose. 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.
"Let's give them the coverage they deserve, in my view, which is very little."
The BNP launched its local election manifesto on Good Friday and said it was "standing for local freedom, security, identity, democracy" and putting "Britain first".
The party, which has 24 local councillors, said 356 candidates would stand for election next month.
According to analysis by the anti-fascist group Searchlight, the BNP is within a 5% swing of winning 70 council seats.
"They are posing a much bigger electoral threat than they have," Searchlight's director of research, Nick Lowles, said.
The BNP was increasing its anti-Muslim rhetoric in the wake of the July 7 bombings and the Danish cartoon row, he addded. The party was also benefiting from disillusionment among Labour voters, and the Tories' apparent shift to the centre, which had left a gap on the right.
Ms Hodge told the Sunday Telegraph that for the first time white working class people were no longer ashamed to say they will vote BNP.
"When I knock on doors I say to people 'Are you tempted to vote BNP?' and many, many, many - eight out of 10 of the white families - say yes." she said. "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. Now they are not.
The BNP is standing in seven of the 17 wards in Barking and Searchlight predicts it will get 20-30% of the vote. The party secured 16.9% of the vote in Barking in the 2005 general election. In neighbouring Dagenham, its vote was 9%.
Guardian (http://politics.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,329459107-110415,00.html)
Up to a quarter of voters are considering supporting the far right British National party, according to a draft report for a social policy research group. The authors of the study for the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust said today that feelings of "powerlessness and frustration" with the main political parties had led to increasing numbers indicating that they might vote for the BNP.
The claims follow a warning by the employment minister, Margaret Hodge, that disillusioned white, working-class voters were deserting Labour for the BNP. She said that as many as eight out of 10 white families in her Barking constituency in east London admitted that they were tempted to vote BNP in forthcoming council elections.
One of the study's authors, Professor Peter John of Manchester University, said the research suggested many voters in white working-class areas feel their concerns are ignored.
"They think they have been let down by the main parties. They feel their voices have not been heard, the main parties have ignored them," he told the BBC's Today programme.
"I think if I was in the main parties, I would be worried about this, that I have not talked about an issue which one of my core constituencies thinks is important."
He said that focus groups were conducted with voters in east London as part of the Rowntree report, but stressed that the levels of underlying support uncovered by the report would not necessarily translate into electoral success for the BNP.
"This is a very hypothetical question. It is not what party you will vote for, but who you might vote for. The idea is to try to tap into some underlying attitudes which may translate into electoral support, but may not and in the past have not," he said.
The study also analysed the wards in which the BNP enjoyed most support and found they were "white working-class areas" with little racial diversity, Prof John said.
He also accused the BNP of spreading "myths" which had particular potency in areas experiencing significant levels of change.
Phill Edwards, a BNP spokesman, said that during the last 40 years Britain had been transformed from "a racially homogeneous society" into one "where the cultures are now quite alien".
"That does add quite a lot of tensions and stresses," he said. "There are borders around countries. People require passports to move around. Borders are there to protect population groups, to give security and freedom, democracy and identity to population groups.
"These people shouldn't just be allowed to wander wherever they like. The fact of the matter is that people who come from these countries in the Third World, many of them do not share our culture and identity. They bring with them their internecine, inter-tribal warfare, they bring with them ailments and diseases and it does cause a lot of frustration."
The Home Office minister, Andy Burnham, said indications of growing readiness to consider a vote for the BNP reflected a trend towards protest voting, especially at local elections, but he played down the significance of the party's threat.
"When people hear their views, I think they will see them for what they are," he told Today. "But there is a danger in giving undue prominence to the threat that they pose. 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.
"Let's give them the coverage they deserve, in my view, which is very little."
The BNP launched its local election manifesto on Good Friday and said it was "standing for local freedom, security, identity, democracy" and putting "Britain first".
The party, which has 24 local councillors, said 356 candidates would stand for election next month.
According to analysis by the anti-fascist group Searchlight, the BNP is within a 5% swing of winning 70 council seats.
"They are posing a much bigger electoral threat than they have," Searchlight's director of research, Nick Lowles, said.
The BNP was increasing its anti-Muslim rhetoric in the wake of the July 7 bombings and the Danish cartoon row, he addded. The party was also benefiting from disillusionment among Labour voters, and the Tories' apparent shift to the centre, which had left a gap on the right.
Ms Hodge told the Sunday Telegraph that for the first time white working class people were no longer ashamed to say they will vote BNP.
"When I knock on doors I say to people 'Are you tempted to vote BNP?' and many, many, many - eight out of 10 of the white families - say yes." she said. "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. Now they are not.
The BNP is standing in seven of the 17 wards in Barking and Searchlight predicts it will get 20-30% of the vote. The party secured 16.9% of the vote in Barking in the 2005 general election. In neighbouring Dagenham, its vote was 9%.