Leafleting in Colchester this week - come along and help

The BNP have been leafleting in Colchester. We will be leafleting against the BNP in Colchester this Thursday 19th March from 12 noon until 1pm. Meeting outside Colchester Town Hall.

We will also be leafleting in Maldon High Street on Saturday 21st March from 10am until 1pm, at the Moot Hall

Please come along and help.

Happy 2009 from all at Lancaster Unity!

A happy, peaceful and prosperous 2009 to all our anti-fascist readers

Starting tomorrow, we begin our review of 2008, a pretty eventful year all round - and we get on with 2009 and whatever joys and sorrows it has waiting for us. It's going to be a busy year for all of us, so relax for the moment and remind yourselves of the highs and lows of 2008.

Protest against the BNP's RWB on Aug 16th

August 16th mobilisation against the BNP's Red, White and Blue
Get there as close to 9am as possible.

Map of meeting point

Download leaflet (pdf)

Email for more information

Website

Anti-BNP campaigners' personal details put on website

Redwatch boss, the moronic nazi Kevin Watmough

Community leaders who took part in an anti-BNP rally have reacted with defiance after many had their personal details posted on a fascist website.

Redwatch posts details of what it says are Marxists and Communists, including home addresses and telephone numbers, stating they should 'pay for their crimes'.

Following an anti-BNP rally in Wrexham town centre on April 12, photos and personal information about a number of local people, including MPs, councillors and anti-fascist campaigners, were put up on the website. But a number of those targeted, including Wrexham Council's Liberal Democrat leader, say they are unperturbed by the move.

Wrexham's Lib Dem leader, Aled Roberts, who took part in the demonstration, said: "As far as I'm concerned I've got no problem with anyone knowing my details – my phone number is in the directory. If a right wing organisation puts my details up as some kind of quasi-Communist I'm happy with that. It's a free country and I've got a right to express my views."

County councillor David Bithell added: "If they have got me on the website as far as I'm concerned it is a badge of honour. I'm delighted I'm on there."

A slogan, which appears on Redwatch's homepage, reads: "Remember places, traitors' faces, they'll all pay for their crimes."

Evening Leader

Note: To join Searchlight's campaign to shut down Redwatch, go here.

'Racist' letter sent to church

A racist letter has been sent to members of a Lancashire church.

The vicar and several parishioners at St Leonard's Church in Penwortham have been contacted by a group calling themselves the Preston Pals, which has links to the far right BNP. The letter asks the church to support their "cause" and stand up for Preston's Christian population. They have previously leafleted residents in the Watling Street Road area of Fulwood peddling their opinions over proposals to replace the local mosque.

Vicar Nick Mansfield said he was shocked and upset that the church in Marshalls Brow had been targeted by the group, which has links to the British National Party. He told the Evening Post that the group – based in Plungington – may have obtained their addresses from a parish newsletter or from the Blackburn Diocese directory. He condemned the senders of the letter as having "not a very Christian attitude".

He added: "To target people of another faith in this way is ludicrous. This letter has the potential to stir up a lot of ill-feeling in the community. We are at a loss as to why they picked this church. One of the people who received this letter has been left very upset by its contents. It is evil and we will definitely not be supporting this."

Fr Timothy Lipscomb, vicar of Preston Minster, added: "It's totally incredible that people should write letters like this believing them to be true. The letter is racist. But, unfortunately, some people are ignorant and still hold these views."

The Preston Pals was the name given to 7th Battalion of the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment which fought and died on the Somme in July, 1916, during the First World War.

Lancashire Evening Post

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 councillor addresses crowd

Jeers and whistles greeted the arrival of controversial BNP councillor Michael Simpkins at Corsham Town Hall this evening.

Arriving for a town council meeting at 7.30pm, Mr Simpkins, who was elected unopposed in the Box and Rudloe ward, spoke to a crowd of more than 250 anti-BNP protesters. Despite using a loud hailer, Mr Simpkins was drowned out by the noise of protesters using drums, jeers and whistles. But while tensions continued to run high, a major pollice presence prevented any violence from erupting.

Standing outside the town hall, he said that white English people had become "strangers in their own country". He also defended his position on the town council saying he had been voted in by a process of democracy. And he accused the crowd of BNP opponents of "just feeding lies, fears and intimidation".

Wiltshire Times

Corsham anti-BNP protest planned

Anti-BNP protesters will be taking to the streets of Corsham to show their disgust at a member of the far-right party claiming a seat on the town council. A rally and protest has been organised for Monday, June 11, after BNP Cllr Michael Simpkins took the Rudloe ward uncontested at the recent elections. He made his first appearance at Corsham Town Council last week and was greeted by protesters outside the town hall.

Now one local campaigner is organising a much bigger event to show what he says is the "strong anti-fascist feeling" in Corsham.

Kyle Thornhill, 21, who has lived in Corsham all his life, has had leaflets and posters printed to publicise the event, and is calling on everyone in Corsham and the surrounding area who objects to BNP involvement in the town to get involved.

He said: "Myself, like a lot of local people, did not get to hear that this BNP candidate was standing until it was too late to do anything about it, because if we had I would have stood against him to stop them getting in. Although there was the protest last week, again not enough people heard about it until too late, so what we are doing is organising a protest, letting plenty of people know about it and giving them plenty of time. The response I've had from all the people I've met has been overwhelmingly positive, with the only negative comments coming from BNP people via websites."

Mr Thornhill, whose great grandfather came from Barbados, says the rally will also celebrate Britain's multi-culturalism. African drummers are expected to attend and there will be a host of foreign cuisines on offer.

"The vast majority of people in Corsham do not want the BNP here, and it has been inspiring to hear the comments from all the people I've spoken to," said Mr Thornhill. "I'm sure there will be a very big turnout."

The protest starts at 5.30pm. For more information email notobnp@ hotmail.co.uk

Rudloe Air Cadet leader and Corsham BNP chairman Mike Howson has rubbished claims that he intends to resign his position as a youth mentor. He said: "I will not be standing down. My work as a youth leader and my political views remain completely separate. Those with leftist views are using every trick in the book to try to get me removed, which is sad as it is only the youngsters who suffer."

This is Wiltshire

BNP face probe after Mayor walkout

Two BNP councillors staged an impromptu walkout from Sandwell Council last night in protest at a Sikh becoming mayor. They claim his appointment breaches the Magna Carta - but now face an enquiry by the local government standards board.

Simon Smith (who represents Great Bridge) and Carl Butler (Tividale) insist that they didn’t leave the chamber during the vote to appoint Gurcharan “Sid” Sidhu as first citizen – but Butler admits they did retire to an area close to the public gallery for a “coffee break”.

He claims that under the Magna Carta – which was written in 1215 and forms the basis of England’s constitution - “foreigners” are banned from holding public office. Quite how this applies to “Sid”, who’s been a British citizen for 44 years – isn’t clear, but as Butler is happy to explain, he believes that even people who are born in this country should be disqualified from public life if they are of African or Asian heritage.

“That’s not racist it’s realist”, he told us. “The Magna Carta states that no foreigner should take public office and that’s our view. There’s no personal animosity, he just shouldn’t be mayor”.

The BNP’s actions drew a sharp response across the political divide.

Sandwell’s Labour council leader Bill Thomas pointed out that “Sid” will be the borough’s fourth Asian mayor, with the first Dr Hirein Roy being appointed back in the 70s. Commenting on the BNP, Thomas said: “I find their actions disgraceful, and we’re considering taking them to the Standards Board.”

Cllr Bill Archer, a Conservative councillor and former Mayor himself joined in the chorus of criticism: “We are a multicultural society and they’ve got to accept that. The Mayor is the one office that regardless of party you’ve got to respect.”

The Stirrer

BNP man joins council amid angry protest

Crowds gathered outside Corsham Town Hall last night to protest against BNP councillor Michael Simpkins taking up his rightful seat on the parish committee.

Residents clutching photos of black relatives and trade union members bearing banners shouted anti-BNP chants when Mr Simpkins arrived for the first full council meeting since the election.

Flanked by his close protection team, four BNP members dressed in black, the Rudloe councillor walked briskly through the protesters shouting something incomprehensible and disappeared into the council chamber. The chants of "Bad for you, bad for me, stop the racist BNP" followed him inside and the councillors around the table fell silent until the voices stopped.

As police officers outside looked on and the BNP bodyguards lingered inside the door, there was a clear and identifiable moment of stillness and reflection before chairman Allan Bosley called the meeting to a start.

Corsham residents Steph Cleverley, her 21-year-old son Kyle and their friend Gillian Fleming, came to protest against Mr Simpkins, who took his seat unopposed without winning any votes.

Mrs Fleming said: "Lots of people in Corsham think the way we feel but are afraid of the BNP. Everyone in this country is entitled to an opinion, including the BNP. We have lived here a long time and there has never been any problems. We have all lived together side by side in relative peace and I do not see why the BNP seeks to create divisions and hostility based upon a person's ethnicity."

Mrs Cleverley's grandfather Reginald Seymour Thornhill was one of the first generation of black people to move to Britain. She said: "We are proud of our history and heritage but simultaneously proud of our local community and place in the community of Corsham."

Mr Simpkins plans to work hard on the town council and represent the views of the people in his ward. He said: "There was no sense of animosity from my fellow councillors. The protesters were mainly from Bristol and they have a right to protest but why didn't they stand against me in the election? I was accompanied by a close protection team because there have been incidents in the past of lefties attacking BNP members in the street."

Asked whom he represented, Mr Simpkins said: "The BNP is a party for indigenous British people. Black, Asian, Chinese, Aborigine, Maori and Eskimo people cannot join."

Tim Lezard, who organised the protest, said: "Nobody voted for Mr Simpkins and therefore he does not represent anyone in Corsham. Local people have to stand up against fascists."

Gazette and Herald

No room for the BNP racists

The party’s local election disaster is a credit to student activism

Despite fielding a total of nine candidates for election to York City Council, far-right party the BNP managed to gain only 3582 votes and failed to win a single seat. To put this result in context, the anti-BNP organisation Unite Against Fascism has reported that the BNP fielded a record 750 candidates in the recent council elections with Yorkshire and the Humber being a major target area. After large increases for the party in both votes and council seats won in the past couple of years, the most recent elections have yielded the BNP only one extra council seat.

The failure to gain popular support in our local area is highly encouraging given efforts by the BNP and associated fascist website Redwatch to make their presence known. Attempts by members of both these organisations to intimidate York University staff and students have been reported recently by Nouse. It’s therefore good to see these bullying tactics are gaining all the success they deserve.

The BNP’s spectacular failure to perform at the ballot box shows that vigilance pays off. We should be proud that students at our University are willing to make it be known that we are not impressed by underhand tactics and thinly veiled threats, nor will we stand by as racists and extremists try to spread their pernicious political views by masquerading as a voice from the mainstream.

A national press officer for the BNP has compared YUSU to the Marxist Communists of the Soviet Union “who stifled debate and free speech”. This rather bizarre characterisation comes from an organisation which is still free to speak, free to contest elections, but has failed to win the debate and persuade people that it is right. That they are railing against student organisations shows that we, as students, must be doing something right in combating their rhetoric. The same press officer also expressed frustration that students are too ready to accept the idea that diversity is a wonderful thing. Enough said.

With overall turnout at only 41.8% and even lower at 37.2% in the overwhelmingly student-based electorate of Heslington ward, there is a clear lack of interest in local politics among students, and very little desire to turn out in support of the major political parties. Such a high level of apathy is definitely a worrying trend that needs to be addressed, but it is good to see that, in York at least, this is not translating into a protest vote for parties like the BNP.

Student politics currently has a problem in working out [what] it ought to fight for, but at the very least the politics of intolerance is something we can all agree that we must fight against. There was no room on York Council for the BNP this time around. Let’s make sure it stays that way in the future.

Nouse

Vote for democracy

In France, the Front National did badly in the recent elections. But how can we prevent the BNP from gaining seats tomorrow?

By Alexander Goldberg

Jean-Marie Le Pen is in a real strop this week and all because an additional 5.5 million people went out to vote in the first round of the presidential election this year, in comparison to 2002. The leader of the extremist far-right Front National had hoped to repeat his success of five years ago, when he came second in the first round of the elections and went into a run-off with President Chirac.

France has done much soul-searching as a result of the 2002 result. Activists concerned about the state of French democracy were shocked into action and embarked on one of the biggest voter registration campaigns, especially in the large ethnic Arab districts of Paris.

The result? With 3.3 million new voters on the roll and an 85% turnout, Le Pen was relegated to fourth place with his percentage vote cut dramatically. One can only presume that retirement looms for the 78-year-old bigot.

Given France's current economic woes and concerns, the conventional wisdom was that extremist parties would perform better than five years ago. Thankfully, this has not been the case. Instead, France has categorically demonstrated that in modern democracies, a robust voter turnout is critical in stemming the advance of extremist parties, who tend to thrive whenever voter turnout is low.

Back in Britain we have local elections this week. Even the ever-cautious political pundit Andrew Marr stated this week that voter turnout would be below 50%. I fear that Andrew may be right. Time after time the statistics surrounding electoral politics tend to reinforce the same lesson: extremist and racist groups succeed best when voter turnout ranges between 25% and 30% of registered voters. Moreover, the Electoral Commission has suggested that the real extent of voter apathy is hidden by the fact that an estimated 9% of the population do not bother registering in the first place, rising to one-third in some inner city areas.

The British National party (BNP), which has aspirations of turning itself into an electoral success along the lines of Front National, is fielding a record 752 candidates across England and Wales. It hopes to increase on the 53 seats it holds, following significant gains made last year.

And while the BNP has tried to rebrand itself in recent years along the lines of Front National, little, in fact, has changed.

The BNP has its roots in fascist movements (BNP founder John Tyndall proclaimed Hitler's Mein Kampf his Bible). Even its current leader Nick Griffin was convicted of incitement to racial hatred in 1998, while according to the BBC's Panorama investigation other leaders have been arrested for such crimes as sending razor blades in the post, carrying CS gas, assault, theft, burglary and possession. Not exactly your conventional campaign tactics. Watchdogs such as Searchlight highlight time and again that the BNP's core platform has remained one that espouses hate.

My guess is that most voters are attracted to the BNP less for ideological reasons than as a protest against mainstream parties and failing town halls. In addition, the BNP gains from voters who decide not to absent themselves from local elections and tends to do better with a low turnout. Meanwhile, it abandons wards where it is resoundingly beaten.

We need to learn from last week's election in France and apply it here. In the long run we need to work on voter registration, but this week we need to get out and vote on May 3. It is not just local services and recycling schemes that are at stake, but the future of democracy.

Edmund Burke, himself an observer of French politics, perhaps said it best: "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

The Guardian's Comment Is Free

Stars unite in anti-BNP campaign

Falklands hero Simon Weston has added his voice to a campaign against the BNP in the Assembly elections. He has been joined by Twin Town star Rhys Ifans.The pair have added their support to the campaign by Unite Against Fascism.

The group claims that in English towns where the controversial party has been successful, racist attacks have increased. Unite wants to stop the BNP securing any seats in the Assembly next Thursday.

Simon Weston said: "I am against bigotry of all forms and I hate people using race to whip up fear and intimidation. I urge people not to propagate that kind of rhetoric."

Notting Hill star Ifans added: "To Nick Griffin and the BNP - the ethnic communities you dare to vilify in Wales are speaking Welsh, feeling Welsh and will forever be welcome in Wales."

South Wales Evening Post

Race hatred behind No.10's mosque petition

THE RACE HATRED of a woman behind a Downing Street anti-mosque petition can now be revealed.

No.10 refused to act over Jill Barham's petition despite being bombarded with emails objecting to the threat of "terrible violence and suffering" against Muslims if the mosque goes ahead.

Blink reported earlier this month that far-right organisations were backing the petition.

We can now reveal that Barham spouts vile racial hatred on her blog under the name "English Rose." She has also posted links to a number of extreme-right websites.

Blink has now send another email to Downing Street's webmaster requesting that No.10 take action over the petition, as many of the 39,000 signatries would be horrified by Barham's race-hate views.

The UK English Rose blog includes a string of tirades against Islam including "Muslims who rape western women", and has a link to the Battle for Britain which has a picture of two monkeys which it calls Trevor Phillips and Diane Abbott.

In an email to Downing Street's webmaster today, Blink wrote: 'We are extremely concerned that many of the people who signed Jill Barham's petition were unaware of her racial hatred, which is displayed on her blog.

'It is obvious that many of the signatories would not have signed the petition if they had known this. As the petition has been fatally undermined, we call for it to be taken down immediately.
'We also object strongly to the name "KILL ALL NI**ERS" who is listed on No.10's website signing this petition. It is outrageous to have such unbridled racism should be published on the Prime Minister's website.

'We reiterate that the petitioners reference to "terrible violence and suffering" is a clear implicit threat of violence against Muslims should the so-called mega mosque be given the go-ahead.'

Blink urges our readers to email Downing Street at: webmaster@pmo.gov.uk to urge that this petition is amended to remove the reference to "terrible violence and suffering" and that the words "KILL ALL NI**ERS" are removed from the signature list.

Blink (Black Information Link)

Still alive and kicking

This year's local elections fall near the seventh anniversary of the Oldham race riots - and the BNP is trying to make headway in new territory.

By David Ward

Watch it: the British National party has not gone away. Nick Griffin and his crew are hard at work canvassing across the north-west of England as they seek to woo the voters. In previous years, they have not grabbed a vast number of seats - but they have won a worrying number of votes.

This year's local elections fall almost on the seventh anniversary of the race riots that erupted in Oldham, Greater Manchester, in May 2001. The BNP has tried to exploit the situation and has campaigned to seduce the Oldham electorate every year since. But, faced with tough campaigning by both Labour and the Liberal Democrats (parties with a long history of mutual antipathy in these parts), it has made no headway and never topped a poll. Not even Griffin could win a seat, although he did pick up more than a quarter of the votes in Chadderton North ward in 2003.

This year the BNP appears to be going through the motions by fielding just four candidates in Oldham. But it hasn't given up in Burnley, the east Lancashire town also hit by disturbances in the summer of 2001. The BNP, which won its first seats the following year and now has seven councillors, is fielding 10 candidates this year (including councillors seeking re-election), the largest group in any council in the north-west of England.

The Burnley BNP has gone through several leaders, shed a councillor who struck Griffin's minder in a brawl and lost another who decided that, far from being a racist, she was a fan of Nelson Mandela. It has made little impact in the council chamber.

But local activists have cleverly exploited the fears of more prosperous white people, who live in the nice parts of town and have voted for the party to keep members of the Asian community out of their districts. The party could engineer new victories this year, which could give new concern on a council on which no party has a majority.

Significantly, the BNP is also trying to make headway in parts of Greater Manchester other than Oldham, and is putting up a total of 44 candidates in the region's nine metropolitan boroughs, with eight each in Bury, Wigan and Tameside and seven in Stockport. This is a serious onslaught and it remains to be seen whether the onward march of the far right can be halted.

The party has only one candidate in Tory-controlled Trafford and just two in Manchester, where the BNP has never done well. But Griffin and co are making a determined assault on Liverpool, where they are fielding candidates in nine wards, and on Blackpool (seven candidates), where it staged its conference this year. Where the party stands on the loss of the supercasino to Manchester remains to be seen.

Not content with major centres, the party continues to flirt with the greener parts of Lancashire in Pendle and Ribble Valley - it has several times held its Red, White and Blue festivals in fields near Clitheroe. The BNP also has its eyes on Cumbria: six party candidates are standing in Carlisle and two in the rock-solid Labour stronghold of Maryport on the Cumbrian coast, where members of ethnic minorities are thin on the ground. Will local mainstream party activists be able to keep this lot at bay?

Additional research by Rumeana Jahangir

David Ward

The dark side of Facebook

The social networking website has become popular with political activists - including the British National Party.

Over the last three months, it seems like the bulk of the British political and media establishment has moved on to the social networking site, Facebook. And I'm not just talking about politicians jumping on a new way to meet voters - journalists and commentators from Hugo Rifkind to Andrew Neil and Jonathan Dimbleby are Facebook members.

"Site" seems like an off-hand description. With more than 20 million registered users, "phenomenon" is perhaps more appropriate. Facebook is a small but active battlefield in May's elections, and perhaps more so for the Labour party leadership and deputy leadership elections. It provides the facility to organise your contacts and events and to network and discuss issues with people who share similar interests, whether they be serious or trivial.

Facebook is by no means the only online social networking facility, yet it has become "the one" for politics, far beyond any use of MySpace or LinkedIn. It's hard to pin down why Facebook has achieved this pre-eminence, though I'd put my money on the layout. The pages are laid out neatly and with a clean and neutral colour-scheme and there is limited scope for personal customisation. So while Facebook was originally designed for university students, it is entirely accessible to adults of all ages. And together with the ability to organise canvassing sessions, fundraising events, and policy debates, it's no surprise really that political activists would see the benefits.

Yet mainstream political parties are not the only campaigners to mobilise using this effective resource. The British National Party has recently developed a number of presences on the system. A search for BNP returns 98 groups, though a number of these are unrelated or anti-BNP. But still, those that are supportive of the BNP are disturbing to read.

Danny Lake and Mark Wain, the Young BNP National Organiser and National Secretary, have set up the most official-looking BNP group, which boasts 75 members and publicises a detailed BNP manifesto. Another group has 76 members and the Newcastle University BNP group, managed by John Lilburne and Preston Wiginton, has 49 members. There also are numerous smaller groups.

These may not seem like significant numbers, yet these are people who are willing to have their names and photographs - and often email addresses and mobile numbers - publicly associated with their endorsement. If this is not disturbing enough, Facebook has the facility to form "secret" groups that don't show up on listings, and there is no doubt that the BNP is capable of taking advantage of this.

Providers of internet services, whether they are email systems or social networking sites, try to varying degrees to maintain a hands-off approach to content, regarding themselves as the canvas rather than the painting, which is provided by the user. Facebook certainly has an acceptable use policy, though a little careful manoeuvring from the BNP would enable them to circumvent this without difficulty.

The question remains: should Facebook and other networking sites be responsible in any way for the activities and ideas promoted and facilitated by their services? If a hate crime is committed and is found to have been incited on Facebook, will the company be open to prosecution?

There is, however, some hope. The number of groups and individuals opposing the BNP and its ideology of hate massively outweighs those in favour. One comment amid the bile on a BNP Facebook page raises a smile instantly. In a reference to the founder and owner of the site, a young woman says: "Let me add this up. You guys hate Jews yet you're on a Jew's networking site? Irony!".

Would it be prejudiced of me to assert that no BNP supporter could ever have the mental capacity to come up with a concept or a system that will ever have the potential for political change enjoyed by Facebook? With a head full of poison and hate, what room is there for anything else?

Comment is free

BNP targets Maryport in elections

Concerns that the British National Party was intending to target Maryport in next month's local elections have been confirmed.

BNP candidates will contest two Allerdale council wards in the town, including Ellenborough, which is held by husband and wife Martin and Janice Wood - the parents of teenage anti-BNP fighter Jonathan Wood.

They are being challenged by former town resident Martin Wingfield, who edits the BNP magazine, Freedom.

His wife, Tina Dorothy-Rose Wingfield, will fight the Ewanrigg ward, standing against sitting member Carni McCarron-Holmes and Carl John Holding, a Labour candidate who wants to replace retiring councillor, Pat McCracken.

The BNP is also fielding a candidate at Broughton-St Bridget’s, which takes in Great and Little Broughton, Brigham and villages around Cockermouth.

Nigel Williamson, a Great Broughton resident, will stand there against Tory hopefuls Adrian Paul Davis-Johnston and Eric Nicholson and Labour candidates John Ardron and Kenneth John McDonald.

Last month the BNP claimed it would not be standing in any Cumbrian constituency.

Paul Stafford, the BNP's Cumbria chairman, is to contest the Wigton seat. He is standing against Labour's John Crouch, independents George Scott and John Armstrong and Alan Hortin.

Times and Star

Hope not Hate update: Day eight

This weekend was always going to be some of our important days of the campaign. Across the country activists were distributing anti-BNP literature. From Bradford to Luton, Burnley to Lincoln, hundreds of people were out.

Arguably the two biggest challenges we face in the forthcoming elections are in Sandwell and Stoke-on-Trent, where the BNP averaged 33% and 30% of the votes in the seats they contested in 2006. It was because of days of actions in these two areas that the Hope not Hate bus has taken a less than direct route from London to Scotland. Having travelled up to Sheffield and then across to Manchester and Liverpool we then headed back south to the West Midlands.

It almost got worse. The Dancing on Ice stars were supposed to join the bus in Birmingham but for reasons beyond our control this was not possible. An alternative date was given for the Saturday. So, as we left Birmingham on the Friday night we thought the plan was to go to Stoke-on-Trent and then head back south to Birmingham and then Sandwell before continuing the journey north. This plan was certainly testing the patience of our normally relaxed and accommodating driver. Fortunately another cancellation from the Dancing on Ice stars meant we reverted to our orginial plan which was to spend a day in Stoke-on-Trent.

A changeover of Mirror photographer and Ros having a day off meant that it was a slightly depleted team that headed off that morning. Our first stop was to Stoke City's Britannia Stadium where we met former Stoke player Terry Conway and Irish author Don Mullin. The pair had been drawn together by the legendary Gordon Banks. Terry was part of the 1972 FA Cup winning team alongside Banks, while Don is just written a biography of the man he describes as his hero.

Back onto the A50 we headed into Coalville, a former mining area which has fallen on hard times in recent years. We were later to learn that the area once had the nickname of the 'United Nations' due to the workers who moved into the area to work down the pits from across Britain and Eastern Europe. Anyway, today we were attending a Hope not Hate anti-racist fun day organised by the local Kids Zone project. Over 200 children and young people attended at some stage during the day. They were treated to a host of great activities, from a DJ school to a rodeo, face painting to a steel band.

A couple of miles away more serious activity was taking place. Almost 100 people came out for the Stoke-on-Trent day of action organised by local anti-BNP group NorSCARF and Searchlight. Over 10,000 copies of the Searchlight newspaper were distributed during the day, with most of the work concentrating on the BNP heartland in Stoke South. The day was rounded off by a performance a steel band and Billy Bragg, who had generously given his weekend to the campaign.

Stoke-on-Trent has been a major BNP target for several years and campaigning against them has taken its toll on many activitists during that period. However, the success of today has given new and seasoned campaigners a renewed lease of energy which they are determined to make the most of over the next few weeks.

The Watson household in West Bromwich East provided the evening's entertainment, which given the excesses of much of the tour was a welcome respite.

Hope not Hate

City gets message as bands sound note against racism

Liverpool's Victoria monument was the backdrop to an anti-BNP concert yesterday.

The city’s only black woman councillor Anna Rothery was among the speakers at a rally ahead of the free Love Music Hate Racism event, in Derby Square outside the Queen Elizabeth II law courts.

Liverpool youth bands including all-girl R&B trio Miss Africa, Indie five piece We See Foxes, and GK and the Renegades all performed.

The event was organised by the national Hope Not Hate campaign, which aims to send a message that racists should not be elected. It coincided with anti-fascist week, organised by the Merseyside Coalition Against Racism & Fascism.

Spokesman Alec McFadden said: “We are well aware that the BNP is intending to stand candidates in the local elections and we are ‘getting our retaliation in first’ to quote a football saying. Wherever the racist parties stand in elections or distribute leaflets, a rise in racial tension and racist violence takes place.

“We are proud that no fascist has ever been elected to any public office in Merseyside and we intend for Merseyside to remain a fascist free zone.”

The national Hope Not Hate campaign is supported by actor Ricky Tomlinson, the magazine Searchlight, the Trades Union Congress and Trinity Mirror, which owns the Mirror newspapers and the Liverpool Daily Post, and sister title the Liverpool Echo.

Liverpool Daily Post