Stoke-on-Trent BNP Group Reduced To 7

Stoke-on-Trent BNP councillors have been reduced in numbers to 7 from the initial 9 earlier in the year.

After Alby Walker stepped down as BNP group leader in the city the group were reduced to 8 and at todays full council meeting Councillor Ellie Walker was sitting away from the rest of the BNP group and sat with her husband with the non aligned councillors.

During a vote on the nominations for appointment to school governing bodies which included Councillor Steve Batkin from the BNP being nominated as a governor at Endsor High School Ellie Walker abstained from the vote, effectively voting against the BNP group who all voted in favour of all the nominations.

We have been told that Ellie has moved away from the BNP and is just waiting for the paperwork to be completed by Member Services.

Alby Walker confirmed that Ellie has moved away from the party during his speech on item 14 of the agenda asking the council to arrange a suitable event each year to mark Holocaust Memorial Day.

Pit n Pots

Councillors vent anger at the BNP

Stoke-on-trent city councillors launched a furious attack on the British National Party (BNP) at a meeting yesterday. The tirade came after BNP councillors demanded an apology from elected mayor Mark Meredith for refusing to include them in discussions about policy-making.

Councillor Alby Walker, leader of the BNP Group, said: "More than 8,000 people voted for the BNP last May and Mr Meredith is saying to each and every one of them that they don't count."

Mr Meredith said he would always treat individual BNP city councillors with respect, but he would not tolerate the far right party's policies. He refused to apologise and said: "I believe the BNP is a divisive party."

In May's local elections, the BNP gained three more seats but lost sitting councillor Steve Batkin in Longton North. Soon after the election fellow Longton North councillor Mark Leat was removed from the group after internal disagreements, leaving the BNP with six out of 60 councillors.

Councillor Mike Tappin, leader of the Labour Group, told yesterday's meeting: "Let the word go forth from this time and place that we intend to defeat everything the BNP stands for."

Last month the Standards Board for England - which polices the behaviour of local politicians - refused to investigate allegations Mr Meredith was publicly disrespectful to BNP councillors by refusing to work with them.

The BNP argued the mayor's stance breached the code of conduct for councillors, which says local politicians must treat others with respect - including people with opposing views or from other parties. The board accepted Mr Meredith's actions could have breached the code of conduct, but it concluded the allegations were not serious enough to justify an investigation.

The Sentinel

BNP loses councillor just a week after the local elections

Mark Leat, the Longton North BNP councillor on Stoke Council has decided he's had enough of the fascist BNP and stumbled across the council chamber to become a non-aligned Independent, thus wiping out in a single embarrassing go the staggering single extra seat that the BNP made at last week's local government elections.

So, after putting up the record number of 750 candidates and ploughing a phenomenal amount of money into the campaign - delivering up to six campaign leaflets in some areas, we're told - the party has ended up precisely where it started.

Leat's only claim to fame is a bit of BNP self-promotion when a pre-election Voice of Freedom article claimed the party was achieving credibility following his award of chairman of the Health Commission. Following this, the party claimed it was 'working towards the day when the BNP hold the majority on Stoke Council'. That's put an end to that plan.

More info as and when we get it...

Thanks to our friends at Kirklees Unity for the tip-off. :-)