Protests as BNP member takes seat at City Hall

Published by Jon Land for 24dash.com in Communities , Local Government on Friday 9th May 2008 - 11:51am

Email This Item

 

Protests as BNP member Richard Barnbrook takes seat at City Hall

Protests as BNP member Richard Barnbrook takes seat at City Hall

BNP London Assembly Member Richard Barnbrook was today confronted by protesters outside City Hall in London.

Mr Barnbrook won a seat inside the London Assembly following last week's local and London Mayoral elections.

The far-right party passed the 5% voter threshold ensuring that it took up a position at City Hall.

But the win for Richard Barnbrook was attacked as a victory for "hatred, violence and stupidity" by opponents.

The 25-member London Assembly is made up of 14 members elected directly from constituencies and the remaining 11 divided between the parties in proportion to London-wide votes.

Mr Barnbrook, leader of the BNP group on Barking and Dagenham Council, also ran as the party's mayoral candidate.

His campaign tried to attract what he called "real Londoners" and attacked asylum seekers and illegal immigrants for "engulfing London".

His election website promised "Enough is enough, I will make sure that the people who have paid into the system are housed before immigrants - it's only fair."

Earlier in the campaign the main candidates in the mayoral elections united to urge voters not to vote BNP.

Campaign group Hope Not Hate launched a huge operation across the capital to dissuade Londoners from voting for the BNP.

Gerry Gable from the group said: "A BNP victory means hatred, violence and stupidity.

"Richard Barnbrook being returned I think is a disaster for the BNP because the guy is inept, his track record had been dreadful. "On his own he will sink without a trace."

He added: "We've run the biggest anti-fascist campaign ever."

But Mr Darby said the party had been very pleased with voting in the local elections.

He said: "I think it has gone very well - we've made a total of 10 net gains across the country.

"It's very difficult for us to win seats, we not only have to take on all the political parties, but sometimes the Church, the trade union movement and a lot of the media."

He said he "couldn't care less" if political opponents felt uncomfortable about BNP gains.

He said: "We will do what the British people want.

"If they [other political parties] try to intimidate us, then they are picking on the wrong people."


COMMENTS


No comments yet...

Please Login To Comment


To comment you must be logged in. You can either Login or Register