Where do BNP voters come from?

MikeHobday Sat Jun 28, 2008 at 09:20:45 AM GMT Print-friendly version Facebook

This Thursday gave an interesting insight into the question as to where BNP voters come from? Labour made two gains in two co-terminous by-elections in Hatfield Central, one for the Borough Council and one for the Town Council. The list of parties was identical - but the BNP only stood for the Borough Council, not the Town Council.



Results:

          Town;Borough;Difference
Lab        422;  425;   + 3
LD         378;  329;   - 49
Con       347;  319;   - 28
BNP            -;  138; +138
Ind        127;    69;   - 58 

Seemingly, most BNP votes did not come from the right but from the "anti-politics" section of the electoral spectrum. If so, perhaps one lesson is that the way to counter the BNP is for local parties to be seen to engage with local residents on local issues? To treat them as with do with any other anti-politics party?

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Where do BNP voters come from? | 8 comments (8 topical)

Re: Where do BNP voters come from? (#1)

by treborc on Sat Jun 28, 2008 at 09:36:57 AM GMT

Your correct, my local Labour party knocked on my door and said you must vote Labour otherwise the Tories will get in, I asked why, they said to stop the return of Thatcher, that was it. To stop Thatcher getting back in she to old to walk her self with luck she will pass on soon and  my house hold will have a party.

The BNP knocked on my door and spent an hour telling me what I wanted to hear, decent wages, better housing, local issues that they knew all about, it was good it was solid and it is what I expected Labour to say.

The difference the local BNP live in the area, my MP left when she was a child and does not live in the area, she reads the local paper of course, she is a Blair babe.

Would I vote BNP of course not, but some did around me.


Re: Where do BNP voters come from? (#4)

by doktorbuk on Sun Jun 29, 2008 at 02:13:39 PM GMT

This sounds very familiar to some things I heard on the electoral trail this year. You know the kind of estate - low income, lots of teens hanging around, high unemployment. The housewife I spoke to, and her teenage son, said the same thing. "We used to vote Labour, but they seem to be ignoring us now. The BNP were round the other day, he lives just up the road, he spoke to me like normal/ordinary people do, that's why we voted for them."


[ Parent ]

Re: Where do BNP voters come from? (#3)

by AngryVoter on Sun Jun 29, 2008 at 12:00:26 PM GMT

You know what BritishAsian?

I agree with you entirely. Most of the BNP seats and attempts to gain seats happen in predominantly Labour-based areas. Nuneaton, for example. Has two BNP councillors. Gresley [In Swadlincote] came within 123 votes of a BNP councillor.

 Stoke-On-Trent, Barking and Dagenham. Both were initially Labour-supporting areas, but with the "New Labour revolution" coupled with the lack of actual attempts of social mobility rather than the gimmicks we've had for the last decade, have seen people driven into the BNP's arms.

[Which I argue is neither left wing, nor right wing, but is a party which transcends definition as did it's forerunners the National Front etc]

The problem is, as we have seen, Labour has grown too complacent in certain areas and thus just doesn't feel the need to bother, and when it doesn't bother we all suffer as a result of the BNP gaining power simply because they do talk about local and actual issues, rather than the gimmicky politics people have attempted locally and nationally within the labour party.

Labour needs a new and definitive direction that focusses on localized issues otherwise there is every possibility it's core vote could be swallowed up by either the Tories or the BNP. Not within a single General Election you understand, but bit by bit, little by little. Nibbling away at the foundations [as the BNP has done] eventually causing the whole building to collapse.


Re: Where do BNP voters come from? (#5)

by doctordunc on Sun Jun 29, 2008 at 02:46:58 PM GMT

The BNP (who are a far-right, fascist part) have, in recent times, made a particular play for a marginalised, ex-Labour vote, but I would disagree that this is where their bread-and-butter votes come from.  The areas you outline might be Labour (traditionally) but the wards they get often aren't.  Certainly in Pennine seats that they prospered in five or so years ago, it was often lower-middle-class, semi-rural, Tory-ish seats that got enough of a BNP vote out in the locals to get a councillor or two.  (Their fore-runners in the British Union of Fascists relied on a similar middle-class constituency for their core vote in the 1930s, despite a similar attempt to target working-class votes). So there is a new BNP vote - I tend to think of it as an 'up yours', anti-politics vote, which I think was the original poster's suggestion too.  A more entrenched BNP vote is a suburban vote - a suburban vote in areas where the local urban area is ethnically diverse.  In those areas it is, of course, a minority vote too.  For everybody who is fearing that their suburban comfort is going to be challenged by something unwelcome pouring out of the town centre and effecting their house prices, there are many who would welcome a bit more diversity in the neighbourhood!

What both sets of BNP voters need to be aware of is the party's fascism; it's clear connections to international neo-Nazism.  I don't believe they would receive many votes if people were made fully aware of their core values, the connections they have overseas and the sorts of people most of their candidates are (and the crimes so many of them have been charged with!)


[ Parent ]

Re: Where do BNP voters come from? (#7)

by jkitleft on Sun Jun 29, 2008 at 04:09:20 PM GMT

Ironically the BNP doesn't concentrate on the real  issues that effect wages, housing etc. It is because of Thatcherite attitudes on wages and housing, that working-class people are effected. It is not because of immigration.


[ Parent ]

Re: Where do BNP voters come from? (#10)

by Angiem on Sun Jun 29, 2008 at 08:00:20 PM GMT

While I accept what you say. If you are a Tory activist you need to be aware that they are now attacking Conservative areas too.

I know this from experience and I now have the aquaintance of some anti fascist Tories.


[ Parent ]

Re: Where do BNP voters come from? (#8)

by MikeHobday on Sun Jun 29, 2008 at 06:09:29 PM GMT

Not in Hatfield last Thursday. I think it's more complex than that.
Mike


Re: Where do BNP voters come from? (#9)

by Angiem on Sun Jun 29, 2008 at 07:42:38 PM GMT

While I do not doubt the comments made by others on here with regard to Labour being complacent in some areas the picture is changing and the BNP are now attacking Tory areas too.


Epping Forest have 6 BNP Councillors. Both the Council and the MP are Conservative. I would have to look into it further to find out who the BNP seats where taken from.
Although so far they have been unsuccessful they are now standing and getting a good portion of the votes around (25%) in my ward which is Conservative along with the  District Council (32 out of 39 seats) with a Tory MP who enjoys a majority of over 14,000.


Where do BNP voters come from? | 8 comments (8 topical)