It’s bad, but not that bad….

Last night’s European elections were certainly dramatic. It’s difficult to say which is more shocking: the election of 2 BNP members or the incredible collapse of the Labour vote. I think that people were expecting the Labour meltdown as the government has been lurching from crisis to crisis for months. The apparent “rise” of the BNP seems to have caused the most amazement.

The election of any far-right party candidate is a worrying event. But I’m not sure it’s as bad as the immediate reaction in the press makes out for the following reasons:

1. The BNP polled less votes in the Yorkshire/Humber and North West regions in 2009 that in 2005. They only gained seats because so many Labour voters stayed at home. This wasn’t a big rush towards the far-right.

2. The BNP got 6% nationally on a low 34% turnout. That’s only about 2% of the population.

3. The BNP did a good job of re-spinning their image in some areas and jumping on the anti-establishment bandwagon. They still only got 6%. The media and other parties will be wiser now. Not all of those who voted for the BNP will have realised what they stand for and might not share all their racist views.

4. I don’t think there is such a big surge in racist views as it might seem. There have been people with different opinions all along. A minority of people hold different levels of views that could be regarded as racist. Our media and politicians are ultra-aware of not being seen as racist and so tolerant people might not be aware of the opinions of some people. All that has happened is the views are now visible in the form of votes.

What worries me more is some of the areas where the BNP got their seats from. Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham all polled around 17% for the BNP. I actually predicted that South Yorkshire might be good ground for the BNP last week. There has been a steady flow of stories in the region about immigration and asylum seekers over the last few years. I was certainly aware of a small but visible vein of racist views in the area when I grew up there. I have yet to live in an area where these views can be so widely and openly expressed. It might not have aggressive intent, but it is there and acknowledged by many people.

These are areas that have struggled to recover from the demise of the traditional industries and that have a lot of social deprivation. Neither the Conservative nor the Labour Governments have effectively addressed the problems of these and similar areas. We have seen the BNP target these kind of areas before with some success. Areas that have high unemployment and whose local councils struggle to meet the needs of local people. Political parties tend to compete for the support of middle class voters in more marginal constituencies. They do this because the middle classes tend to vote more often and are more likely to change their vote. Labour have been frequently accused of taking the votes of the working class electors for granted, especially in the traditional rock-solid safe Labour seats. Whether this is the case or not is a different matter. They certainly seem to direct all their spin and presentation on charming the middle classes.

It’s easy to see why people in poorer areas can become resentful to the perceived side-lining of their problems. The scenes of the ruling classes filling their pockets in the expenses scandal cannot have helped. This is where the BNP come in, playing on anger and fear by providing a scapegoat – non-whites. There may well be imbalances in temporary immigrations for some jobs, but studies have shown that it is not ethnic minorities that are making things worse for working class whites – the working classes suffer from discrimination as a group because of their class. Working class children find it harder to get into universities and generations of exclusion can create different expectations.The BNP creates myths that people in ethnic minorites are looked after better than whites that just aren’t true.

So who is to blame for the BNP getting elected? Mainstream politicians for ignoring the fears of the working class? People who didn’t vote? The Labour government? Neglect of former industrial areas? MP’s and their expenses? The BNP? perhaps all of these. But let’s not get carried away, it’s bad, but not that bad.