Auty quits after BNP leadership bid fails

A former BNP councillor has resigned his Kirklees seat in the wake of his failed party leadership bid.

Colin Auty, who was elected British National Party member for Dewsbury East in 2006, launched a campaign to oust BNP chairman Nick Griffin earlier this year. But his bid collapsed just weeks after it began, with Mr Auty claiming the BNP party machine had rallied against him.

Under the extremist party's rules, he needed to get 100 signatures to challenge Mr Griffin, but failed. He resigned his BNP membership in July, then officially left Kirklees Council at the end of last month.

A council spokesman said: "I can confirm that the chief executive has received a letter from Colin Auty informing him of his resignation with effect from August 31. A by-election will be held in due course."

Mr Auty describes himself as a "moderate," but has said his decision to resign the seat stemmed from the way people in Kirklees have treated him over his far-right activism. He has said: "I can't get involved in projects because of my BNP badge. I get shot down by the establishment. I have met some nice people but they can't afford to be seen standing by my side."

He added that his wife had had a "rough time" for being married to a BNP councillor.

The resignation is the latest blow for the BNP in Kirklees, which it sees as a stronghold. In last May's local elections, a concerted campaign saw trades unionist Steve Hall take a Heckmondwike seat from the BNP, for Labour. Just one BNP councillor remains on the Kirklees authority – Heckmondwike's Roger Roberts.

Unusually, there is no mention of Mr Auty's decision to resign on the Yorkshire and Humberside news section of the BNP's official website.

Yorkshire Evening Post

BNP fail in bid to stop postal votes

The British National Party has failed in its bid to stop postal voting in Kirklees.

The BNP has three members on Kirklees Council but their supporter’s bid to halt the postal vote at the forthcoming May elections was rejected. The action by the BNP member was turned down at Bradford County Court. At the hearing yesterday the application for an injunction to stop the Returning Officer from issuing postal ballot papers was refused by the judge, who also made the BNP pay the council’s costs.

The BNP’s application was later condemned by council leader Cllr Robert Light, who said it had been a futile waste of time and a cheap publicity stunt.

Cllr Light said: "This was simply a gimmick by the BNP to get cheap publicity. Postal voting is part of electoral law that all councils follow. All the BNP has done is waste the time of council officers by going through the process of addressing what was always going to be a futile action by the perpetrators of this bogus case. The judge clearly considered that the application was ill-conceived by not only rejecting the application but also in awarding the council its costs against the BNP. It is an absolute waste of time to challenge statute in this way.”

BNP group chairman Cllr Roger Roberts said it was a move made by an individual member, not a councillor.

But he added: “I would personally support the idea. Postal voting is fine for the disabled and the elderly but it is very open to fraud. When you get 20 votes coming out of a one-bedroom flat, it is patently wrong.”

Huddersfield Daily Examiner

Giving the BNP the runaround

A plan by Kirklees BNP to intimidate local anti-fascists on the weekend of 8-9 March failed miserably, leaving copious amounts of egg on the face of Heckmondwike BNP councillor David Exley.

Hope not Hate Yorkshire in conjunction with Kirklees Unity had called a day of action on Sunday 9 March for Heckmondwike ward in Kirklees. Heckmondwike has two sitting BNP councillors, Roger Roberts who defected from the Conservatives after repeated failures under the Tory ticket and Exley. It seems Exley took particular exception to the event as he is up for re-election this year and is obviously worried about losing his seat.

Local intelligence revealed that the BNP intended to harass the anti-fascists and leaflet the ward themselves at the same time. This would not be the first time the BNP in Kirklees have done this, with a number of photographs taken by the BNP appearing on the nazi Redwatch website.

Exley’s plan failed miserably.The GMB and Kirklees Unity/Hope not Hate Yorkshire mobilised 30 activists on the previous day and covered the entire ward very quickly. They also laid on a fantastic buffet which the hungry activists deservedly demolished.

But this wasn’t the end of our campaign.

On the Sunday around 20 activists turned up for the advertised day of action. Because the Heckmondwike ward had already been covered activists went to neighbouring Cleckheaton and leafleted the whole ward.Observers spotted the BNP driving frantically around the ward on Sunday looking none too happy.

Thanks to the BNP and Exley our day of action became a weekend of action.Many thanks to the GMB and their team. We look forward to seeing you next time.

Kirklees Unity

Red Card for BNP as party fails to make gains

Fears that Heckmondwike could become the first all-BNP ward in Yorkshire were quashed at last week's elections. The far-right party failed to make any gains at the Kirklees elections – despite standing 23 candidates.

Had BNP candidate Steve Cass been elected in Heckmondwike he would have served with BNP councillors David Exley and Roger Roberts – a situation the party’s leader Nick Griffin anticipated.

Mr Griffin visited Heckmondwike and Cleckheaton last month. At the time he said: “I’m hoping we’ll get the third seat in Heckmondwike. If we can get a few more seats then we can start to make a difference in council chambers as well as in the wards. I think you’ll see a difference in the council landscape after the elections.”

But despite a strong campaign the party lost out to David Sheard, who has been a Labour councillor for more than 20 years. Coun Sheard said it would have been bad news for Heckmondwike had the BNP taken his seat. He added: “I thought I would beat the BNP, but I knew it would be close and I didn’t think it would be by so much. Now I can get cracking and carry on with the work I’ve started.”

But Kirklees BNP leader Coun Exley said he was surprised by the result.

“I thought we’d done enough, but David Sheard is a very strong candidate and he hasn’t been a councillor for 23 years for nothing. We’ve had a wake-up call, but we’ll carry on with the work we’ve been doing in our wards.”

Coun Exley acknowledged Heckmondwike’s large Asian community could have stopped the party winning the seat, but said any worries about the BNP were unfounded.

“Asian people have nothing to fear from the BNP. I’ve been in for three-and-a-half years now and Roger Roberts for one. People from the Asian community come to me for help and I help them as I would anyone else. If there was any reason for them to fear us, then that would have been an issue by now.”

In Cleckheaton Liberal Democrat Andrew Pinnock was pleased to keep his seat of 12 years.

Lib Dem leader Coun Kath Pinnock (Cleck) said the 2006 result was the closest in Cleckheaton for many years and this time the party was keen that “people in Cleckheaton would show the BNP the red card”. She added: “People in Cleckheaton have seen through the BNP’s promises. We want to put into effect what we’ve said will be done now.”

The Lib Dems hope to make safe and develop the derelict Westgate site, improve the empty Co-op in Scholes and get a route confirmed for the Hopper service bus which has been granted funding.

Coun Derrick Yates (Con, Liversedge and Gomersal) said of his re-election: “It’s a great result for the Spen Valley, not just in Liversedge but especially in Heckmondwike and Cleckheaton where the councillors have increased their vote majority. We’ve sent a clear message that north Kirklees do not want the views of the BNP. It’s a fantastic result. I will build on my work of the last three years, I’ve made a good start and am very happy to be able to continue to work for the people of Liversedge and Gomersal.”

Although Tory leader Coun Robert Light (Birstall and Birkenshaw) was also re-elected, his position as council leader could be in doubt as Labour now has 22 seats to the Tories’ 20. Coun Light said: “I’m delighted to keep the seat. It’s a great honour to represent and help my home villages and to be part of Kirklees Council.”

He added that an administration change for the council would be a disaster as the Tories only took over from the Lib Dems last June. “I think everyone agrees that three administrations in three years is not in the interest of the council.”

Coun Light said the Tories would be looking for support from other parties but ruled out any form of shared administration with the minor parties.

Spenborough Guardian