As the title states, a depressing day in British politics. The BNP have gained a seat in the Euro elections. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8088133.stm I understand many are feeling disillusioned with the state of politics and MP's at the moment, but there is very little excuse for voting this lot in.
It's what happens when you just brush the BNP off as a fringe party and make people feel disillusioned with mainstream politics by not answering the lower classes problems. Not saying people should vote BNP but its the mainstream parties and goverments fault. I wouldn't be worried that much though its probably partly a protest vote, theres a fairly low turnout and I very much doubt 120,000 people in the Yorkshire and Humber think the BNP is good for Britain, but in general we're not told much about Europe so people don't think the people they put in have much of an effect.
Bloody Padiham and Burnley *******s. Believe you me, the BNP are welcome to that place. Even so it makes me vomitous with hatred to think these filthy racists are in some kind of power.
I watched the coverage untill the BNP got a seat, at that point I turned the TV off in disgust. Truly a depressing day for British politics.
i am still watching the coverage, i am well into my politics. I have to admit its has been intresting.
Whilst the ****heads who voted BNP should be made to eat the paper they voted on, equally guilty is the main parties who's total disconnect from reality made them treat the people who vote with contempt leading people to do ridiculous **** like vote ukip/bnp. At least the Green's have higher votes now.
Fortunately this is not a General Election and only the Euro Elections, however the BNP wining a seat (looks like 2 now) is very disturbing.
It's a democracy. People's votes = the results. What's the problem? It's not because you don't agree with it that it's wrong...
@YodasArmpit, why would you consider the BNP gaining two seats in the European Parliament to be worrying? They were entitled to stand for election, were legally elected and therefore have a part to play in said Parliament. As Imperium said, it's a democracy. Maybe the BNP wouldn't have got that seat if people managed getting off their arses and out of their seats to go and vote. The level of apathy regards voting is more shocking and disgusting than who got into power. I would be willing to bet that there are plenty of people moaning about the results in their areas who couldn't be bothered to vote. People today forget that men and women fought for the right to vote in our country, and bitch like schoolchildren when the government in power gets it wrong, but then do nothing about themselves. To waste a vote is to abandon your chance to make yourself heard. I am sick of the tired old crap that all the parties are the same and there is no difference between them. In case we all forgot here in the UK, we vote for people before we vote for parties. If you took the time to learn about the candidates, you would see there are differences that you should be aware of, and there are choices to be made. There are vast differences between the candidates that can affect your area. Are they willing to work to improve the area, or are they just after a foot up the ladder. Have they had the relevant experience to be worthy as a candidate? Are they genuinely interested in what their electorate has to say? I could go on, but I hope you get the idea. Also, I think that the BNP got the votes because they are addressing issues that people are really concerned about. Whilst I don't agree with their policies or support them, at least they had the balls to be open and honest about where they stood. How many other parties can say the same? I would consider any vote for the BNP to be a protest vote against issues that are real and are affecting real people. If we do not wish to see far right parties like the BNP gaining momentum in the UK, we must start addressing the complex issues that are affecting our country. It's not confined to the lower classes, and I find that a bit patronising coming from working class stock myself. I know quite a lot of people from the more affluent areas of Doncaster who were considering either UKIP or the BNP due to the issues of illegal immigration and the governments inability to be honest about it and keep it under control. There are plenty of other issues that UKIP and the BNP have managed to strike a chord with the voting public across all classes, such as the dominance of the EU over the UK etc. Maybe if the government were seen to be giving honest answers and to be in control, these parties wouldn't have got their foot in the door. At least they did vote. I would save your scorn for those who didnt! Also, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, whether you think it's right or wrong, you can't condemn people for who they vote for. EDIT: And for the record, before anyone starts finger wagging and posturing, I voted UKIP and did so with a clear conciense and a smile on my face It was also great to hear that our tosspot of a mayor the donut on legs, Mr Martin Winter, has finally gone.
I don't agree with either Ukip or the BNP's policies however its interesting that everyone is making a fuss over the fact that the BNP have won 2 EU Parliament seat's when the french national front have 7 and no one says a word about it.
I'm sorry, you can sit up on your liberal high horse all you want, but at the end of the day these people are still racists masquerading behind the façade of a legitimate political party with a legitimate political agenda. They shouldn't even be allowed to stand in an election, and for me it indicates a massive step back from how far we have come as a society. Don't get me wrong, they will never be elected into Government, I have more faith in the British voting public than that, but if they were to be, then think how we would look in the eyes of the rest of the world if we started deporting all non-whites. It'll be like going back 100 years in terms of politics, and I'm pretty sure that's not what people want. I'm not sure if those that voted BNP realised that they were voting in bunch of closed-minded bigots, but I feel that a large proportion of their votes came from those that felt they didn't have much other choice for who they voted for, and for that all politicians are in some way responsible. I'm not sure this is the way democracy is supposed to work, you don't vote in protest, you vote for the party with the policies you believe will benefit the country as a whole. How will the BNP's policies benefit this country? I really can't see it. Unfortuneately, from these election results, it is indeed as sad day if people feel the alternatives are worse than those offered by the BNP, or if they are simply uninformed of the other options available to them. The other parties should take this as a wake-up call that they need to get their acts together, because right now none of them seem like an attractive proposition to a prospective voter.
Anyone has the right to stand as a political party in this country, and that is truly fantastic. I fully support the freedoms that we are entitled to, and it would worry me if someone decided to start excluding parties from elections. However, the BNP are a set of poorly-disguised racists praying on people's fears about immigration, crime and the economy to get into power. Some of them might be protest votes against the current set, who are definitely up for a real thrashing, but there are a significant number of people who actually voted for them, which worries me deeply about the state of social affairs around here. What really worries me is that many people won't have voted. The BNP only got 8,666 votes in the whole of Lancashire, where there are almost 1.5 million people. Those all don't translate into votes, but we're talking about a tiny number of people who actually bothered to vote. 1155 votes were enough to seal a council area of a pretty decent size. It's not like it's a rural constituency with a low population, we're talking about a densely populated suburb.
I wish i had your faith in the British people. Honestly i'm on the cusp of voting SNP its starting to look like the further we can distance our self from the rest of the country the better, between the ukip and the BNP i'm more than a little disapointed in the people of this country. Turn out for Scotland wasn't great at about 28% but still seems better than lancs.
Please grow up, you yourself have pointed out that there was a low turn out, doesn't help with the fact the big 3 just stick there fingers in there ears and ignore theres a problem with people voting BNP, because they feel the bigger parties aren't listening and thats how they get in. Saying something like that is just using a massive brushstruck and doesn't help the debate at all, you can't just say to someone you must not vote this party because there bad, you need to tell them why not to. Was glad to see the Tories shadow defence secretary Liam Fox saying last night that it might be a time to change tact and acctually take on the BNP, as rightly or wrongly some people do think that immigrants get first pick on council housing and are treated better and the only way to dispel the myth is to tell people whats really happening as the BNP meerly lives on scare mongering. The low turnout also doesn't help at all, but that's because how many people do you think really knows what the european parliment does for them? In general its a closed institution, in same cases undemocratic and we don't hear all that much about what goes on there.
I posted this in the General thread, but I guess it goes equally as well here: This is why it's important to all exercise out democratic right to vote. A lot of people I know either couldn't be arsed or didn't care who was voted in. This, I guess, will be in contrast to people who have a reason to vote and will do so with great fervour. My recollection may be a bit fuzzy, but voter apathy in France back in 2002 nearly opened the door to nationalist Jean-Marie Le Pen. It doesn't take that long to look up party policies, there are even websites that break them down into bite sized chunks, but I really feel we should make the effort to vote as a people. Before apathy one day sees the country run by an angry dwarf who insists we all take a European holiday in our little tankies. :/
