By voting BNP you don't just send a message that you are sick of immigration. Why dont you look at their manifesto?

- The BNP propose abolishing the income tax, they say they aren't going to cut public spending, they are just going to reallocate it!

- The BNP propose withdrawing from NATO.

- The BNP propose National Service begining at 18. Concientious objectors will not be allowed university education or a vote.

- The BNP propose withdrawing all the UKs international aid fund and using it to send ALL racial minorities back to their countries of origin. Any second generation immigrant would be allowed to stay but would become a second class citizen, with a disadvantage in housing and schools. (not a laughing matter in my opinion)

- The BNP propose that if a crime is committed, not only should the criminal be punished, every member of his family should be charged and punished as well.

- The BNP propose that every household should be required to own an assault rifle!

and finally, my favourite manifesto point of all time:
- The BNP propose regulations to make sure popular soap operas portray slightly "higher" than real life behaviour as the norm, to encourage better manners and british pride!

Voting for the BNP doesn't just show your disappointment in the current governments handling of immigration, it shows you to be an small-minded, unrealistic, politically blind, uneconomical, most probably racist, homophobic and misogynistic voter.

Many feel disallusioned at the state of the country but voting for a neo-nazi party isnt the way to express that. Rise up, take action, lobby your MP, write a petition, protest parliament. Resorting to the far right isn't the only answer.

[edit on 9/1/07 by gfad]

Here here, gfad.

As ubermunche pointed out, unrestricted immigration is a negative thing. But immigration to the UK is restricted - part of the problem is that it isn't done well enough, and another part is that the media make it look worse than it is. I think everyone has a different view on this with regards to who and how many people should be allowed into the UK to live and work, and that's fine. The difficulty for the government - for any government - is working out a balance between what's popular (which, if you ask the average person in the street, is "reduce it") and what's right for the country (which is definitely to allow some sort of immigration).

And we don't just need highly skilled workers such as doctors, nurses, teachers and so forth. Low skilled workers are also important, providing a base for the economy to rest upon. If you didn't have the little guys making the nuts and bolts the extremely clever scientists couldn't put their inventions together, could they

And immigrants do fill jobs that native British people don't want. Some Britons would rather claim benefits than go off to university or get a job or do something else constructive with their lives. I'm not really sure as to the extent of the "they're taking all the jobs!" problem, since I can see this being a prime target for exaggeration by the Daily Mail or some other newspaper that sports similar views. I'm not denying that it does happen, but I'm not sure it's as bad as some newspapers and groups make it out to be.

Originally posted by gfad

Voting for the BNP doesn't just show your disappointment in the current governments handling of immigration, it shows you to be an small-minded, unrealistic, politically blind, uneconomical, most probably racist, homophobic and misogynistic voter.

But this is the same glib response that’s always tossed out but where did all these small minded, bigoted etc etc riff raff come from before now. The BNP always have been a fringe party drawing most of their supporters from a small section of white, working class voters, suddenly their gaining popularity and voters from all quarters. Did these newbies all turn racist overnight or just managed a very good job at keeping it hidden. I find it hard to believe that, easier by far and by co-opting a little empathy to imagine sections of society that feel they are being ignored and disenfranchised on a whole range of issues, social, legal, medical or education wise.

I wonder how many of these socially conscientious people would stick to their principles if we suddenly had hordes of university educated American, Australian and Canadian immigrants streaming in every day and undercutting them in their jobs in IT and corporate banking. Some maybe but not many.

Many feel disillusioned at the state of the country but voting for a neo-nazi party isnt the way to express that. Rise up, take action, lobby your MP, write a petition, protest parliament. Resorting to the far right isn't the only answer.

[edit on 9/1/07 by gfad]

But people do, everyday. It doesn’t seem to be solving anything. Do you seriously think the govt isn’t aware of the anger and concern in the UK over certain issues. They still do nothing but sound bites and empty sympathy.

Condemning people outright for voting BNP, whether it be a protest vote or simply because they’ve reached the end of their tether is as callous and simplistic as the ‘send ‘em all back’ approach. The BNP may be the worst case scenario for the people of this country but then so is breathing in underwater but if your held under indefinitely you will do eventually.

The national office of statistics has just released statistics that show that most of the BNPs manifesto is based on a FALSE belief that immigrants are coming and taking everyones jobs.

The total number of people out of work in the three months to November fell 29,000 to just under 1.7 million.

The number of people out of work and claiming benefit in December also dropped, by 5,500 to 943,100.

That was a sharper drop than expected and the third month in a row it has fallen.

It is the longest run of falls since the period between October 2004 and February 2005, said the Office of National Statistics, adding that the claimant count trend was on the way down.

...

Jobs in manufacturing firms continued to fall, down by 68,000 to just over three million in the three months to November compared with a year ago.

There brings down the number employed in the sector to the fewest on record.

The idea that they could be stealing our jobs are obviously flawed, since even with an increase in the population, the number of unemployed and people living on benefits has fallen.

Also, as I stated earlier in the thread as a country such as the UK becomes more advanced economically, its manufacturing industry moves abroad. This assumption is supported by the statistics above.

I wonder if any of those criminals had their families punished as well, as stated in the BNP manifesto!

well its the local elections and it seems the BNP are gaining huge support, theres even some houses round here with signs up in the window saying "vote BNP"

newspapers are having numerous articles saying "don't vote BNP" we've never seen that before over the years.

why are they gaining support?

Funny, I don't think it's been as bad this year as it was last year.

Why are they gaining support? Protest votes, perhaps. Not fully understanding what they're voting for is another reason possibly.

It's hard to say. My neighbour said she would vote for them when I spoke to her a couple of days back. When I asked why, she mentioned something about immigration. I pointed out that:

a) These were local elections, and local councils don't have any oversight into the national immigration policy.

b) The area in which we live is one of the most predominantly white in the country, with about 97.4% white at the last census.

She didn't have any other arguments (I asked her what the BNP were going to do about bin collection, council taxes, local schools... she didn't know). When I went up to vote (luckily ) there wasn't a BNP candidate standing anyway. Only Labour, Tory or Independent.

Just to add fuel!!

If you are a civil servant, you can join the communist party or any other far left party, but join the the BNP and you can kiss your job goodbye.

This is wrong.

If only people got as heated over voting for the BNP as voting for a party that have taken us into an illegal war, lied to us and cost the lifes of many British troops.

Originally posted by Freedom ERP
If you are a civil servant, you can join the communist party or any other far left party, but join the the BNP and you can kiss your job goodbye.

Civil servants aren't allowed to join any extremist party, be they communist, fascist or otherwise since the civil service is supposed to be politically neutral. They can only be members of mainstream parties and may not stand for any political office whilst holding a post within the civil service.

Not quite sure what this has to do with BNP gains/losses in local council elections, though


[edit on 3/5/07 by Ste2652]

Civil servants can join and be members of the communist party, Ste2652.

So either the communist party is not regarded as extreme, or there is a shocking double standard.

And not much to do with the topic of the thread. Just some of the rants about people who do vote for the BNP and wanting to offer a bit of balance

Some civil servants apparently can, but there are restrictions on a great deal of them.

Civil Service Management Code
The Government has decided that no one can be employed in the Civil Service in connection with work the nature of which is vital to the security of the State if he or she is believed to be:

(1) a member of the Communist Party or of a Fascist organisation;

or

(2) associated with either the Communist Party or a Fascist organisation in such a way to raise legitimate doubts about his or her reliability.

So that's... what... the Home Office, Foreign Office, Ministry of Defence, perhaps the Treasury too.

Senior council workers are also banned from having ANY political associations even to the mainstream parties.

Although I can see the advantages of trying to keep the civil service and council neutral, its impossible anyway and I dont think its appropriate to try and hamper the political rights of the workers.

Banning people from joining the communist party is practically the same as banning them from joining a union. Its a throw-back to Thatchrite/Cold-War anti-unionism.

Interestingly, although the equal opportunities act bars an employer from asking certain questions at an interview or considering certain things in the employment process, such as disability, age, race, and religion, it is perfectly acceptable for a person to be turned down from a job due to their political affiliations. I think that is the shocking double standard.

Yes and no. On the one hand it does seem wrong to discriminate against someone based on anything.

On the other, I personally would be very uncomfortable with a member of the BNP teaching my children. I wouldn't want them to learn what I see as a hateful, destructive ideology with links to violence and Holocaust denial.

[edit on 4/5/07 by Ste2652]

Originally posted by st3ve_o
well its the local elections and it seems the BNP are gaining huge support, theres even some houses round here with signs up in the window saying "vote BNP"

...

why are they gaining support?

Seems your prediction was wrong, st3ve_o - and I'm very grateful for that too. The BNP lost eight of its seats (many of which went to Labour...), gained ten, with a net gain of just two seats.

I wonder why? Was it because people were so focused on the Scottish elections (cutting off the 'oxygen of publicity')? Was it because they simply lost the confidence of those who supported them before?

Needless to say, I think nationalism is one of the major threats to this country, be it from the BNP or the SNP or other similar groups.

Ste2652, would be interested to know why you think nationalist is such a huge threat. A new thread I think