Topic 3: Who's afraid of the BNP? - Neville Farmer

Topic 3: Did the BBC Question Time expose Nick Griffin's face of a 'racist', or give him huge publicity? Can the rise of BNP cause an increase in harassment/violent attacks from racists to the Chinese take-aways and restaurants?

The BNP leader Nick Griffin, who is widely criticised as a 'racist', recently appeared on the BBC Question Time programme. The show received nearly 8 million viewers on that day. Also, the BNP later claimed that 3,000 people had registered to join the party during and after the show. In this case, we wonder if the show had been an opportunity to expose the real face of Nick Griffin, or a chance for him to boost his party. Can the rise of BNP cause an increase in harassment/violent attacks from racists to the Chinese take-aways and restaurants? Will it worsen the situation of the Chinese catering industry in the UK?

The rise of the BNP in Britain is probably, hopefully, merely a blip. It is less the by-product of effective campaigning on their behalf than a reflection of the general disenchantment the British public have with government and, by association, all mainstream parties.

The boost the BNP received in the July European elections seems to have been a protest vote against the main parties following the MPs' expenses scandal. The Greens, Ukip, Respect and many other small parties all saw a similar lift. Despite the fact that both Ukip and BNP have had serious problems with poor accounting they were not part of the press tirade and so escaped public outrage.

Short term swings aside, what is worrying is that the Government has so clearly failed to communicate with the British public on the subject of immigration. Year upon year, since the Conservative Home Office minister, Anne Widdecombe began complaining about the flood of asylum seekers and refugees escaping the Balkan wars and Iraq, the press and right wing politicians have fed the fears of the public. Few people, if asked, could tell what the difference is between an economic migrant, a refugee, an asylum seeker, a bogus asylum seeker, an illegal immigrant, a foreign student or even a tourist.

The problem was further exaggerated by the Government's utter failure to predict the flood of migrants seeking work from Eastern Europe when their homelands joined the EU. Even though almost all of them came seeking gainful employment and were happy to pay taxes, they were lumped in with all immigrants and designated public enemy number one to the British working classes.

In a knee-jerk response, the Home Office has brought in laws that effectively turned employers into immigration officers, under pain of heavy fines if they don't check their employees' papers correctly. This legislation was so poorly worded that even the Attorney General who helped draft it, Baroness Scotland, fell foul of it last month and was fined £5000 for employing an illegal Tongan cleaner. To her, it was embarrassing but to hundreds of Chinese and Bangladeshi restaurateurs across Britain, it could mean bankruptcy. In the past two years, numerous restaurants which either deliberately employed illegal workers or which simply couldn't fathom the 80 plus documents that confirm the legal right to work have been given on-the-spot fines of tens of thousands of pounds, causing some businesses to close down.

The knock-on effect has been the sacking of thousands of workers who were merely suspected of being illegal. It is now estimated that there are 60,000 Chinese and South East Asian workers who have fallen outside the law and are drifting into the hands of criminal gangs. The Border's Agency, meanwhile, has been unable to repatriate even a fraction of the illegal workers they arrest, quietly letting them go to disappear into the shadows after a few days in detention.

All this fuels the argument for the BNP way of thinking in the minds of ill-educated working-class people. Now, with economic collapse and jobs being lost, it is even easier to point the finger of blame at foreigners, especially foreigners who look different. The BNP is undoubtedly a racist party. Only last month the courts ordered it to change its constitution so that people of any race could join, but what person of colour would dare apply? Meanwhile, the disenfranchised working class white Briton has a channel for his or her anger, the BNP.

So, should we all be scared? Well, yes and no. The places where they have taken hold of council seats have often been lost after one term once people realise that BNP politicians haven't got anything to say other than blaming immigrants for everything. Nick Griffin's shabby performance on the BBC's Question Time made it quite clear to most people that he is a poor representative of British thinking and not the kind of man you'd want to handle government. Membership fluctuates wildly and the party has serious money worries. But we cannot sit back and ignore them, hoping they'll go away. They have a ready audience from the tabloid readers and it would be very easy for them to sneak through the back door as the Nazis did if they found a leader who appealed to the public's worst prejudices.

Britain's success depends on internationalism and a fluid population. To pull up the drawbridge and tell the outside world we're closed for business would be suicidal for such an internationally-based economy. Liberal Democrats will pursue policies that are fair and pragmatic to ensure we are able to compete in the globalised world, welcoming new talent as well as training and building up the local population. There is clearly no place for a backward and xenophobic party such as the BNP to govern in modern Britain. Hopefully, now the party's uncharismatic leader, Nick Griffin has shown the BNP's true colours, the British voters will make sure that never happens.

Related Links

• You can read this article in Chinese here.
• Find out more about the Chinese Shadow Parliament here.