I’m looking forward to helping out again with Aidan Burley’s campaign in Cannock this coming weekend, on which I’ve previously posted an article (see here).
One of the unknown factors in Cannock for the coming General Election will concern the electoral impact of the BNP. Across the West Midlands, the BNP have been picking up council votes in wards, usually at the expense of the Labour Party. Across the diverse urban/ rural landscape of the West Midlands, these wards can be identified through their relatively higher level of deprivation compared to the surrounding area. For example, in Warwickshire local BNP candidates have been successfully in elected in wards within Nuneaton which used to be ex-mining settlements.
As a second-generation British-born Asian, I would obviously dispute the BNP’s central message around race. However I would fully support their right to be heard as a democratically elected party, including the recent appearance of their leader Nick Griffiths on Question Time. Because there a variety of motives that lead people to vote for the BNP, including apathy or anger with the conduct of mainstream political parties, we need to adopt a range of strategies to help counter their appeal. These might range from greater openness on issues such as immigration to more direct empowerment of communities in deprived areas.
However there is a significant risk that the 2010 General Election will see the BNP increase its reach in these marginalized communities, given the broad pattern of votes leaking to the BNP mainly from the Labour Party and the relatively weaker Conservative campaigning presence in these areas. Therefore I have written to the Conservative Party Chairman Eric Pickles suggesting that we should set up a Marginal Wards Initiative (MWI) after the General Election.
The aim would be to follow our City Seats Initiative (for which I have campaigned in London), focusing on those deprived wards where the BNP receives its greatest vote share. The MWI would ensure that at least once every six months voters in these wards would receive Conservative campaign literature on issues that matter to them, supported with direct doorstep canvassing. This campaign could be co-ordinated across the country, so that it became a regular fixture for local associations.
Winning the next General Election is obviously the top priority but the Conservatives should not lose sight of citizens who for whatever reason have turned their back on mainstream politics. I believe that we have a responsibility to engage with these voters, even where there is relatively little immediate electoral advantage to be gained.
1 comment:
The three main parties are all pro-immigration, pro-EU and pro-Islam to name just three very important issues. Some choice for voters!
It is not right that English people should just become one more ethnic minority in the UK, and an ignored one at that, but with continued immigration that is inevitable. The BNP is the only party with a policy to stop immigration and re-assert England as the homeland of English people.
With regard to Islam, you have every reason as a Sikh to look forward with trepidation to a Muslim majority in this country -within a couple of generations on current trends.
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