STANDING UP TO THE BNP IS THE ONLY WAY TO STOP THEM

10.10.00am BST (GMT +0100) Tue 9th Jun 2009

Commenting on Nick Griffin's election as an MEP for the North West Region, Hazel Grove MP, and Lib Dem Local Election Campaign Chair Andrew Stunell said:

"On a day when Prince Charles was laying a wreath to commemorate the D-Day landings that helped to liberate France from the cruel oppression of the Nazi's, we now have our own fascist elected in the North West.

"Nick Griffin's victory is disappointing, but don't let his election lead you to believe that he speaks for the whole of the North West - he doesn't. Across the region only one in forty electors voted for him, and in Stockport, where the BNP came sixth, for every vote the BNP received, sixteen people voted for other parties.

"People are voting BNP not because they are racist, but because they are fed up with a political system that is letting them down. If we want to stop the BNP, then all parties have to challenge them head on, exposing them as the institutionally racist and fundamentally anti-British party they are. That's what the Lib Dems have done in Burnley, and the BNP vote has slumped as a result. They can no longer be allowed to peddle their poison and hatred unchallenged."

Ends