This is just a quick information update on the BNP candidates standing in Warrington. I thought I'd already done this. Ooops...
Basically, in Warrington, two BNP candidates are standing in the Local Elections. Fairfield and Howley is one target ward (my own ward) and Bewsey and Whitecross is the other. For information, each ward has a number of councillors which are elected "by thirds". This means that we have elections pretty much every year but only for one out of the three seats available to the ward. This has been the case since 2004 when we had the last all-out elections. This year, the most popular candidates from 2004 are up for re-election/replacement.
In Fairfield and Howley, Ann Haddow is stepping down. She was elected as a Labour Councillor but became Independent at some point. She is not re-standing.
In Bewsey and Whitecross, Hitesh Patel is up for re-election. He is a Labour councillor.
Recent years have seen a swing from Labour being the majority and controlling party to a Lib Dem/Tory controlling coalition. 2006 saw poor Labour results (but still wins in both wards) and 2007 saw a large improvement for Labour. Looking at those results, Labour seem poised to retain their seats.
As to non-white candidates standing in the wards, Hitesh Patel is an asian candidate who won the all-outs in B&W in 2004 (although I have heard of some voting jiggerypokery going on). 2007 saw a Lib Dem candidate standing in F&H which was, apparently, always considered more of a paper candidate with no realistic chance of winning partly due to race issues (he did, in fact, lose).
USDAW have donated some Hope not Hate leaflets which are being distributed around B&W (which is where they are most concerned as Hitesh is re-standing and does not really want to withdraw his candidacy (and I should bloody hope not).
For what it's worth, I sent emails to all three current councillors on both wards, both local MPS and Unison. I got a reply from two of the B&W councillors and one F&H councillor. Given they are all Labour though (except Ann Haddow who's stepping down) this should not be taken to mean the others don't care. I have also received a response form Helen Jones MP asking for my address so she can send a written response (nothing arrived yet) and Unison who can't tell me anything as I am not a member of their branch.
There seems to be a reluctance to launch any campaign pre-election in case it gives too much extra publicity/credence to the BNP. They also seem to think the BNP are standing on an immigration platform, targeting areas with non-white candidates (or where they suspected they may stand). The leaflet I have had has been about crime, so I am not 100% convinced of that belief. F&H has a fair number of young families and the leaflet mentions and promotes Sarah's Law (letting families know if peadophiles are nearby) so in F&H if they are doing a serious run for it, evidence so far seems to be that they are targeting crime.
The big concern is that if they seem to do well in this election (and I don't know what they will count as "well") they may make Warrington (or parts of it) targets in next years European Elections. These are not normal first past the post elections (winner takes all). Instead, people votes for parties in big regions and parties get to nominate MEPs based on their share of the vote. Makes it a lot easier for minority parties to get in. I will be examining the results in May and discussing with local councillors the outcome so we can determine if a local group needs setting up.
Speaking to Yvone Fovargue, it seems St Helens is under siege at the moment with candidates in all but 5 wards. Hitesh informs me that Halton has seen off most it's BN candidates. A local group may have to draw upon people from Warrington, St Helens and Halton to be truely effective.
In the mean time, please do not hesitate to email me or add me to MSN/GTalk (penwing AT gmail DOT com), ICQ/AIM (92075277 / iampenwing) or jabber (penwing AT jabber DOT org) and I can keep you up to date with what I know or if we need to do anything here and now.
Alex
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