DO NOTHING COUNCILLORS

CARTOON

In July 2003, after winning 8 seats on Burnley Council, Len Starr, then BNP group Leader, astounded the world by announcing his party would make no policy proposals until winning power. Burnley was at a critical stage. The process of rebuilding after years of Tory cuts, and then the disturbances, was developing apace. Extra money flowed in from the Labour Government to address Burnley's housing problems, and proposals to totally revamp Burnley's secondary schools was in the making. Yet the BNP made no contribution. They totally failed to use their position on the Council to suggest ways forward. They have made no proposals, many of them  often fail to turn up, for the key budget debates.

The BNP began to lose votes and started speaking up. But only to oppose very positive proposal for the town. They described the “elevate” project to improve homes and communities as “vandalism”. They opposed new money for a Drug Treatment Centre, according to the police, vital in reducing crime. They opposed £180million investment in new secondary schools.

Whilst in a time of big change, there are understandable concerns that money is well spent or in the best ways possible. For example, some have opposed the proposed siting, though not the principle, of two of the new schools. Such debate is natural and normal. The late Labour Councillor Don Hall was among those to lead representations to the County Council over the siting of Unity College.

However the BNP approach has been to declare war on the new schools. Having missed their chance to implement the proposals, through their own silence, and fully encouraged by their extremist national leadership, they are trying everything to slow or disrupt the smooth transition. They are playing politics  with our childrens' futures. Just imagine if they succeeded in stopping the schools. Children would face years of uncertainty with no positive way forward. Gawthorpe has already been demolished. The new schools are already up and running but await the new buildings. The BNP have no constructive way forward. They are simply exploiting the anxieties of parents, in a worrying time of change,  to save the skins of their four Councillors who face the voters this year.

BNP MYTHS – THE BIG LIE.

The BNP are an extremist party that was formed nationally by hard line Nazis. They are ideologically driven by ideals of racial purity. Nick Griffin, their leader insults British servicemen who fought against Hitler by seeking to deny the holocaust. Mark Collett, another leading member, admitted on a Channel 4 documentary that he would sooner have lived in Nazi Germany than Burnley today. Due to their extremist views, the BNP see the vital local issues that affect us all not as ways of helping local people. But as a device to advance their extremist  theories. Every issue, no matter how complex, is reduced to race.

To do this they seek to spread myths to frighten ordinary voters into supporting them.

THE BNP JUST RUN DOWN OUR TOWN WITH NO POSITIVE PROPOSALS.

BNP FAILURES – WHY WE NEED TO ‘RED CARD' THEM IN BURNLEY AND PADIHAM

DO NOTHING COUNCILLORS

The BNP made no useful contribution to Council meetings for the first 3 years of their presence there. This was a deliberate policy. They have never made a proposal in the crucial Budget debate, often not even turning up.

OPPOSING IMPROVEMENTS

The BNP have opposed £millions of pounds of investment in our town for reasons of political dogma.

NO SOLUTIONS

Although the BNP occasionally stumble on real issues that are important to voters, they have no practical or constructive solutions to problems. They are only interested in increasing racial tension.

PLAYING POLITICS WITH OUR KIDS SCHOOLS

If their opposition to new secondary schools were to succeed, we would have the worst of all worlds. Parents and our children would face years of uncertainty without state of the art schools. Instead of talking our schools into the ground, we need Councillors that will work together with parents and teachers to ensure a smooth transition. Real problems should be quickly tackled, not used to destroy confidence in our schools.

HOSPITALS – A DO NOTHING PARTY.

The BNP seek to exploit the concern we all feel about the unproven decision to move A&E to Blackburn. Yet , apart from turning up to the occasional photo opportunity, they played no  part in the campaign. They simply attacked efforts by local people and the health union UNISON  to stop the move. Whilst UNISON and others continue to monitor the changes at every stage to expose any threat to life and limb, the BNP have no answers. In fact, given the high contribution of overseas doctors, nurses, dentists and other medics as part of the NHS workforce. It is clear a BNP crazy policies  would destroy the NHS.

FAIR SHARES FOR ALL

The BNP gained a breakthrough in Burnley because many wrongly felt all resources went to only one part of the town. Yet the BNP have failed to speak up even for the areas they have Councillors. The Liberal Tory Council were recently defeated in an attempt to deny Elevate money for Padiham and other areas. All Labour Councillors supported a proposal by John Harbour, Labour campaigner in Gawthorpe, to ensure that all areas in need got something. Yet whilst the BNP followed on Labour's coat tails and voted the same way, Len Starr, councillor for Hapton with Park, sneaked out before the vote. 

The BNP is a divisive party that couldn't care less about the future of Burnley and surrounding areas.

In Halifax, they claimed asylum seekers were causing waiting lists for old people in local health care. This was denounced as false by all local surgeries and hospitals, and old people condemned them for stirring up unnecessary fears.

In Barking, where there is a chronic housing shortage, the BNP spread the myth that the Council were giving £50000 to Africans to buy local houses, totally false.

In Burnley, they seek to turn every issue into racial conflict. They claim funding is concentrated in “ethnic areas”. Yet what they fail to say is that Daneshouse & Stoneyholme, the only ward with a significant % of Asian voters, contains the award winning Hammerton Street refurbishment, the Town Centre and the new St Peters Centre which benefit the whole Town. These resources are not in Asian areas, but they are geographically in that ward.

Labour believes that all people living in deprivation should have an equal chance to make a good life. So money from Labour is targeted according to need. All poor areas get money and so they should.

David Cameron, the leader of the Conservative Party said on the 29th January,

"The BNP pretend to be respectable, but their creed is pure hatred.

"For the BNP racism isn't a scourge, it's a political philosophy. They prey on voters who are disillusioned with mainstream politics ."