The rise of the fascist BNP is a threat to democracy - so why is it being legitimised?

We have the opportunity to stop the BNP before it makes a major breakthrough, but it requires more serious attention, says Ken Livingstone

The British National Party now receives the highest votes for a fascist party in British history. So where is the media outcry about the fact that in some parts of Britain fascists are getting large votes and gaining access to seats on local councils?

The answer to that question is that, with one or two honourable exceptions, there is no outcry in many parts of the national media at all. And yet this is a political party with a long record of racist activity, peddling hatred and mistrust in order to gain access not just to seats on local councils but - more insidiously - access to mainstream debate.

Just over 60 years since the end of the second world war, we seem to have lost sight of the lessons of the fight against fascism - that unless you openly confront the racism and intolerance of the far right, they will grow.

The fight against home-grown fascism can often focus on historical events: the victory at Cable Street or the battles against the National Front in the 1970s. But we have our own battles to fight now.

At the 2006 local elections the British National party polled over 238,000 votes compared to 3,000 votes in 2000, increasing their number of councillors from 19 to 49. In the last six years the BNP vote has increased more than 75-fold.

Yorkshire and the Humber and the West Midlands continue to be the BNP's key target regions. The BNP will aim to make further gains in West Yorkshire - particularly Bradford and Kirklees - and will attempt to make their first breakthrough in South Yorkshire.

In the West Midlands, they will be seeking to gain more seats in the Black Country towns of Sandwell and will look to extend this to bordering councils such as Dudley. They will continue to target Stoke, where there are currently five BNP councillors.

The Welsh and Scottish elections will see the BNP raising its ugly head in the devolved bodies, and next year the far right will be hoping to get elected onto the London assembly. At the previous elections in 2004, the BNP only jut missed getting elected onto the assembly by 0.1%.

Ignoring them or caving in to their agenda does not work. In the London elections next year I will make sure that my campaign puts the issue of defeating the BNP up front as a key message.

The problem we have at present is that not only is the rise of a fascist party not being given adequate attention, but its agenda is being capitulated to and fed from the mainstream.

The daily diet of attacks on Muslims based on lurid headlines and without thought to the impact on community relations is dangerous and counterproductive and feeds the BNP. The stigmatisation of legitimate political engagement by Muslims and their community organisations such as the Muslim Council of Britain, the hysterical debate on the veil, and so on, are doing the BNP's work for them. Muslims are being singled out for attack.

The fascist right sees the demonisation of Muslims as one of its chief weapons in sowing the seeds of division. Hatred and fear of Muslims is key to the BNP's rhetoric, and its purpose is not to have a sensitive debate about multiculturalism in modern Britain but to whip up racism and discrimination.

We have seen the notion of "Islamofascism" invented, whilst mainstream Muslim organisations are openly equated with the fascists. On BBC News on January 29, for instance, Mark Easton reported a dossier on extremism and said: "Tonight the author of the report confirmed to me that they are likening the Muslim Council and the British National party."

This comparison is false. Fascism is an ideology in whose name millions were murdered on the basis of their race or beliefs. Such comparisons prettify the BNP. Meanwhile, too little attention is paid by politicians and the media to the threat posed by the BNP. The BNP's aim is an eventual national breakthrough on the same scale as its European counterparts who have just formed a caucus in European parliament, where - it is worth noting - there are more fascist MEPs than there are black MEPs.

Violence and terrorism associated with the BNP are rarely mentioned. Since the last local elections, BNP councillors and activists have been found guilty of violent crimes. David Enderby, BNP councillor for Redditch, was found guilty of three counts of assault. His election agent Kevin Hughes was jailed for racially aggravated common assault. In January, BNP activist Mark Bulman was sentenced to five years for attempting to firebomb a local mosque. David Copeland - the London nailbomber - was a former BNP member. Such incidents are the consequence of fascist ideology.

Falling for the trick that the BNP should have freedom of speech to promote racist hatred only aids it making further gains. The BNP is not a legitimate political party but a conspiracy against Britain's black and Asian communities.

Unlike many European countries, we have the opportunity to stop the BNP before it makes a major breakthrough but it requires more serious attention, a serious campaign and the correct leadership in challenging the racism that is currently allowing the BNP to grow.

The Unite Against Fascism national conference on February 17 will be an opportunity to discuss some of the issues raised in this article.

· Ken Livingstone is chairman of Unite Against Fascism. For more information or to register, telephone 020 7833 4916 or visit www.uaf.org.uk

Guardian