In this story I look at the BNP 2009 County Council Elections Manifesto, downloaded from http://bnp.org.uk/CountyCouncilManifesto.pdf around the middle of July 2009. I will quote some of what the manifesto has to say and give some of my own thoughts.
Unlike politicians in all the other parties, BNP candidates do not want to get elected to get their snouts in the trough
This statement is very well timed. For several weeks the British news has been filled with scandals about MPs claiming ridiculous expenses. I look forward to the BNP keeping true to their word.
We will fund and encourage more police on the beat particularly in town centres and late at night - to reduce both crime and the fear of crime.
The good news is that violent crime is down, but there is still more work to be done. People are still very fearful of crime, so this is sure to be a vote-winner.
[...] "Community Observation Patrols", as developed by the British National Party
I am slightly worried by these Community Observation Patrols, mainly because the BNP don't explain in this manifesto what these patrols will do. Maybe I'm cynical, but I wouldn't trust a party led by someone who used to be involved in the National Front. Perhaps the actual policing of the streets should be left to the police?
Lower council taxes [...] spend less on bureaucratic management, more on essential frontline services.
I've worked both with and in the public sector for many years. Changing management to be less bureaucratic will take much longer than the term of one government. I'm a little puzzled as to how less tax and less management still provide more money for essential frontline services. They'll have to be careful not to cut too much!
We will build new council housing for those in need.
Here we see that the BNP isn't purely a "right wing" party. More social housing is very socialist ("left wing"). Commentators may need to be careful not to dub the BNP a "far right" party when many of their manifesto pledges are about improving public services rather than privatising them.
We are completely opposed to the privatisation of essential public services for corporate profit [...]
Again, this is the sort of manifesto pledge we would expect the "Old Labour Party" to make.
Wherever possible preference should be given to local companies rather than large multinationals.
This is a bold statement, and one I can fully get behind. I bet this would be especially popular with small businesses who are struggling through the credit crunch...
County councils should only do business with companies that employ a wholly British workforce.
...but this is a slightly dangerous thing to say. For one, the National Health Service has a large workforce that "isn't British". Are councils to refuse to send people from care homes to the NHS? Should they send them to private hospitals? Bit of a dilemma.
I find it really funny that county councils won't be able to do very much with IT under the BNP. Most councils use Microsoft Office, Microsoft Windows, et cetera. Microsoft is a large multi-national company with "not British" workforce (at least not entirely). The computers that councils use are most likely made in China by companies headquartered in the United States of America. Where will the BNP draw the line? Are we going to cripple our country or are we going to be pragmatic?
The BNP will eliminate speed cameras which do nothing for road safety and are just a stealth tax with which to persecute motorists.
I imagine lots of people will agree, and lots of people will disagree with this one. It's sure to be popular with motorists! Will it be so popular with pedestrians, parents with kids walking to school, cyclists, etc?
Where towns are suffering from congestion we will introduce free "park and ride" schemes.
This sounds like a great idea to me, but I'm not sure how they're going to do it. In other pledges, the BNP say that green areas in and around towns will not be developed. It's not so simple: where are you going to park the cars if you're not covering something with tarmac?
Families that want to home-school their children should be provided with free help, advice and materials.
This sounds like another great idea. My question to the BNP: how are you planning to pay for this? If fewer parents are working, you've got less tax money coming in. It doesn't add up!
Children for whom English is a second language should be taught separately so that they don't hold back the rest.
English is not my first language. I didn't hold back the rest of the kids in my class: I studied at the same university as Nick Griffin. Maybe the manifesto should say that the BNP supports having different classes for children of different abilities? Rather than pick who speaks English as a first language the BNP might consider making the decision based on how clever the children are.
The BNP were the first to campaign for healthier school meals and we want all schoolchildren to eat freshly prepared healthy food, sourced locally.
I thought the first to campaign for better school meals was Jamie Oliver. Maybe I'm wrong?
We reject political correctness. We support daily Christian assemblies, proper discipline, competitive sports and the teaching of Britain's proud and glorious history.
Proud and glorious? Britain is a country that might have recently gone to war illegally. Britain's history is full of bloody and horrific wars, often to "expand the Empire". Is killing people in foreign countries because we wanted to steal their land, their gold, their resources something to be proud of? I don't think so.
There are many religions represented in Britain, and many people choose atheism instead. Why should they be forced to follow a Christian doctrine? Please keep religion out of politics. Politics is about how humans decide to run our affairs, not how "God" decides we should live.
Should the BNP be promoting traditional Anglo-Saxon religions, rather than Christianity, a religion which is most definitely imported from abroad. Jesus didn't speak English, did He!?
There is nothing "super" about super-schools which, experience has shown, are riddled with tension between pupils from an Islamic background and everyone else.
I know that the manifesto isn't going to be like an academic paper, but I wish the BNP would cite the research that uncovered this. This "fact" doesn't stack up with the stories I hear from teachers.
This country was built on the sacrifices of the British people
During the Second World War, my grandparents were displaced from Poland — their former home — and fought alongside the Allies. My father's side of the family were stationed with the Royal Air Force because grand-dad was an aeronautical engineer helping repair and maintain British Spitfires. But this is the message from a party that ran a campaign with a poster featuring a Spitfire belonging to 303 Squadron of the RAF", the "most effective Polish squadron during the Second World War".
The BNP is the real "green party".
...except for the Green Party!
The author is a third-generation British Citizen, descended from an all-Polish bloodline. The author is not a member of any political parties.