Success still eludes North East BNP: Election Results May 3rd 2007
The North East branches of the BNP have once again failed to get a single councillor elected in the region despite standing a record 96 candidates.
BNP performs worst in the North East
The BNP hoped that Ken Booth would breathe new life into the BNP’s worst-performing region in England when he took over from Kevin Scott as Regional Organiser last year. Booth, an unemployed father of ten, has proved adept at organising meetings, producing literature and increasing candidate numbers (although his hopes of standing in every seat on Tyneside by 2008 are unlikely to be fulfilled). But his efforts, and those of his supporters, are wasted if they don’t produce successful results. In the long-term BNP target areas of Sunderland (25 BNP), Newcastle (13 candidates) and Gateshead (13 candidates), the BNP vote and percentage fell in almost every ward.
The decline of Sunderland BNP, in particular, continued unabated, with the citywide vote slumping to just over 7,500. When the BNP first stood a full slate in 2003, its vote was 14,000. Former BNP Organiser John Martin, now standing for the fascist British First Party (BFP)/November 9th Society, enraged the local BNP by polling just 3 votes less than the BNP candidate in one ward. His fellow BFP member Julie Potter helped to cut BNP Organiser Ian Leadbitter’s vote by over 100 in Redhill ward, once the BNP’s best ward in the region. In Newcastle, the BNP’s vote fell significantly in the target wards of Benwell & Scotswood and Elswick, Booth’s own ward. Of the previously targeted areas, only South Tyneside saw a slight increase in the BNP’s fortunes, partly owing to an unexpectedly high vote (24.5%) in the previously uncontested Primrose ward. The BNP had also hoped to establish itself in a host of new boroughs and districts this year, but in most cases the results in Hartlepool, Redcar & Cleveland, Stockton-on-Tees, Darlington, Wear Valley and Derwentside show BNP candidates trailing in a very long way behind the winning votes. The exception was in Sedgefield, which saw the BNP’s five best results to date in the region – notably in the village of Chilton, where local BNP Secretary Carl Whelpdale scored just under 40% of the vote in a ward with three seats up and only four candidates (the other three from the Labour party). For the first time in the North East, the party came within 50% of the winning vote in these five wards. Anti-BNP activists have been shocked by the levels of support in this area where the BNP were not active until recent months, and by the willingness of BNP supporters in areas such as Chilton and Spennymoor to display their support openly with posters in their windows. However, there is reason to be optimistic in that, even with a more or less free rein (little anti-BNP campaigning in the borough; other parties not fully aware of the threat posed by the BNP), the BNP fell short of victory. We hope that longer-term work in the area by the North East Unites Against the BNP coalition, combined with the North East BNP’s flair for failure, will contain the threat in future.
North East Anti-BNP coalition
Anti-BNP coalition work continues to grow and attract new supporters; we are confident that it contributed to the BNP decline in many areas. For the Newcastle Unites coalition, the 2007 campaign is not quite over – the election in Wingrove ward was delayed due to the death of the Green Party candidate in April, and now goes to the polls in mid-June. If the BNP is not too busy nursing its wounds, it will relish the contest against Labour candidate and prominent anti-fascist Nigel Todd.
Further information on the elections at hopenothate.org.uk