Sir, However unpalatable many of us may find the policies of the BNP, the fact is that it is a legal political party. If the history of the British Union of Fascists tells us anything, it is that physical confrontation is very unlikely to diminish its current level of support (“BNP’s victory press conference halted by hail of eggs from anti-Nazi protestors,” June 10). On the contrary, the disruption of BNP meetings may well increase public sympathy for the party, just as the ill-judged “battle of Cable Street” actually resulted in greater support for the BUF in 1936-37.
Why not leave matters to the good sense of the overwhelming majority of the British electorate?
Professor Geoffrey Alderman
University of Buckingham
Sir, Miland Joshi’s view (letter, June 9) that the winning of two seats by the BNP “says nothing about the great majority of people” in the North of England is questionable. The great majority of “people there” did not take the opportunity to vote — surely this says much about these people. Sadly, I think it is an accurate reflection on our society — an unwillingness by the majority, whoever the majority might be, to support the minority.
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Richard Ackerley
Harrogate
Sir, Your leading article (“If you want to stop the BNP, change the electoral system,” June 10) offers another divergent tactic to overcome the troublesome rise of support for the BNP. It sits firmly alongside other “head-in-the-sand” theories as to why this happened; from Harriett Harman’s insistence that hundreds of thousands of votes for a racist party represents a natural reaction to the expenses scandal to suggestions that changing the electoral system to nullify these democratically cast votes will eradicate the predicament.
Yet, despite cross-party acknowledgment that all the parties should accept the blame for what happened, nobody wants to address the real issues that emerged. Immigration concerns are the primary cause of nearly one million people supporting the BNP and Britain’s ever-dissipating sovereignty at the hands of the EU generated three million more protests from supporters of UKIP, the English Democrats and No2EU.
The main parties must address these issues, however unpalatable they may be.
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Peter Evans
Coventry
Sir, Those of us who voted for the BNP and UKIP did so because we happen to believe in their two central policies, ie, that the growth of the UK’s population is not a good thing and is partly the result of immigration, and that the UK should be independent from the EU.
Our votes were not “protest votes against the major parties” and should not be described as such.
Tom Bulford
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Oxford
Sir, While I cannot criticise the election of any political party that has followed a true democratic process, I must question the legitimacy of any group that has a “whites only” membership policy.
Tony Mcquaid
London EC4
Sir, The BNP has gained two seats in Europe mainly because of the low turnout on polling day.
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Why is it not law in the UK for citizens to have to vote and if they decide they do not agree with any of the choices, then there could be a box for abstentions? This would at least mean that everyone has to carry out their civic duty and we would get an honest reflection on how the country feels. There should be a fine for people who do not turn up.
Sandra Caplan
Bushey, Herts