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Bradford Local Elections

June 2004

The Local Election results in Bradford represent a strong showing for the far right, and a disaster for everyone else. They reflect a worrying trend across Yorkshire as a whole. The results raise important issues about how the causes of extremism can be addressed without rewarding people for their racist voting. There is also the problem of what attitude should be taken to BNP representatives, and the wards they represent, by other councillors, council officers and workers in public agencies more generally. It may be useful here to draw on the experiences of neighbouring authorities.

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We all now need to ask searching questions of ourselves to try and understand why people have voted in the way they did. It is not until we have an open, frank and honest debate looking at the reasons why this has happened, can we ever think of making progress. And this requires political leadership. We are still not talking about problems and issues openly. I only hope that the election of four BNP councillors (in Bradford) is enough of a wake up call.
 Ann Cryer, MP, cited in Yorkshire Post 16/6/04

How much have local policies contributed to BNP success in Bradford?
4 people who told me just before the elections that they were voting BNP talked
about:
1. the final straw being the ban on taxi drivers flying the flag of St. George 'in case it
gave offence' - "Are we still in England or not?"  
2. the ban on children wearing England shirts on a non-uniform day in school 'in
case it gave offence'.
3. the comment by a black person that 'perhaps it would do them [the Met] some
good if the BNP took a few seats' (because he was sick to death of everything being
about Pakistani Muslims).

None of these people are racists, but they do illustrate how ordinary people can be
'pushed over the edge' and feel that they have no way of expressing their growing
feelings of marginalisation by voting BNP. Indeed, 3 of the 4 felt 'safe' to do so
because they felt sure that they wouldn't be elected.

It seems to me that many of our local institutions need to re-think what
multiculturalism means - including those who last Christmas proposed banning
Christmas trees and lights in at least one hospital. These calls do not come from
minority ethnic communities, but it is they who suffer the white (and black) backlash.


Marie, 12/6/04

Events all over the world show that if you prevent people from expressing their fears, the results are usually nasty.  Banning the TV programme (on the unspoken fear that people are not fit to see it) played straight into the hands of the BNP.

Nevertheless I am fairly sanguine.  Elsewhere the BNP have not done particularly well this time: because they had not played their part [as councillors once elected], and fought with each other.

Peter, 14/6/04

Many people who voted BNP are racist and we need to confront this reality.  Some voted for James Lewthwaite in Wyke after reading in the T & A, about his infatuation with the SS in World War II, with his previous publishing company 'Shelf Books' on an openly fascist website - check it out for yourself - www.ufc.co.uk/acatalog   - they also voted for him after he printed lies on his campaign materials about asylum seekers.  

I agree that many people in Bradford District are frustrated and there are many problems that have not been addressed but equally to ignore very real attitudes of racism is dangerous.  The issue of the St Georges flag on taxis was a myth - they have not been banned and the Council are actually issuing them to interested taxi drivers.  

We have much thinking to do about what went wrong but that also involves confronting prejudice.  Ann Cryer MP was right to say that she feels ashamed of all those who voted BNP.  However frustrated people may be feeling - there is no excuse for voting for a party that is for hatred and division and against democracy.

Lisa, 14/6/04
[There is an important question about the social character of the areas in the District where the BNP gains support] My view has always been that the old village centres around Bradford are the 'hidden' prejudice sites and less difficult to guage than big white estates. They also have longer more fixed
traditions that they want to preserve and we need some more intelligent debate about what the issues are for them.

I know Keighley West and Worth Valley - deprived areas - very well and they are very forgotten, have been badly served by councillors and have no understanding or tolerance whatsoever.
They feel very aggrieved at the neglect they have experienced and in my view their anger is justified. The estates are worse in my view than many Bradford sink estates. They have a need to direct
that anger somewhere and as it hasn't succeeded to direct it at their local politicians, they direct it at those that they believe get more than they do. This has been fuelled by the way in which
regeneration decisions have been administered in Keighley. Its perfect ground for BNP. I feel consumed with anger at the way in which politicians have ignored these obvious dangers - when they've been known for years! 		Kathryn, 16/6/04

Protesting voters have given far-right racists of the BNP their first Council seats. This is almost as bad for Bradford's image as another riot would have been. No doubt our politicians will try to blame each other for this wretched disgrace. But they are the problem, not the solution.

The major parties have conspicuously failed to encourage honest public debates between ordinary citizens of all backgrounds. But what else can resolve sources of distrust between Bradford's varied ethnic groups (including that of white English heritage)? With real dialogue just not happening around these vital issues, frustrated voters look to false prophets promising instant hard-line answers to local conflicts.

Local government officers within the Council and Bradford Vision have made unsung but admirable efforts to get 'community cohesion' initiatives working at grass-roots level. These first steps towards turning the District into a tolerant but responsible, mutually considerate, truly multicultural community are starting to show results. This is despite politicians' lukewarm support, and refusal to lead by bringing groups together to discuss their differences respectfully but openly.

The BNP will thrive while there is official silence about problems dividing neighbourhoods. Yet local people can change things for themselves – just as the Toller Citizens' Unity Project (T-CUP) hopes to, through meetings where ordinary people get together to discuss sensitive issues frankly but calmly, seeking shared solutions to shared problems. Other community groups could usefully undermine racist parties, by doing the same kind of thing all around the District.

Letter from Ian Vine, 16/6/04

 

 

 

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