Far-right BNP ‘doubles’ council seats

THE far-right British National Party (BNP) said it had more than doubled its representation on councils in England after yesterday’s local elections.

A spokesman said it now had 51 seats.

“We’re quite happy with that, it’s more than double.”

The party’s gains were most dramatic in Barking and Dagenham in east London where it seized 11 of the 13 seats it fought.

Barking and Dagenham is the first council in the country to have the BNP as the second biggest party.

Richard Barnbrook, the BNP’s London organiser, who gained one of the seats on the council, said voters had decided the time was right to choose the BNP.

“People now are no longer standing back saying we may think about voting or we dare not say BNP because it is a dirty word.

“They are now standing up and saying now is the time to change. We are voting for the BNP.”

Last month Barking Labour MP Margaret Hodge had warned that eight out of 10 white families in her constituency were “tempted” to vote BNP.

Yesterday, Labour Party chiefs in the area were considering disciplinary action against her, claiming her comments helped the BNP.

Away from east London, the BNP’s gains were less spectacular. They included picking up three seats in Stoke-on-Trent, where Labour lost overall control, and three more in Sandwell. Two of the Sandwell seats were won in the Tipton area, which has a large ethnic minority community and is also home to three Britons who were held at Guantanamo Bay.

The BNP claimed a shock win from Labour in Solihull when it won the Chelmsley Wood ward by 19 votes, securing its first seat on the council.

Anti-fascist campaigners expressed alarm.

Holocaust survivor Henry Guterman said: “The BNP is a racist organisation which targets Muslims and Jews and all minority communities. These results are an insult to all those who perished under the Nazis.”