BNP's Sunderland bid falls flat

By John Brunsdon
BBC News Online

It was a night on which the BNP sent a stark warning to the major parties, but its single most ambitious assault on council office was to end in failure.

While results elsewhere, notably in Burnley, saw the party inflict serious damage on the political mainstream, their decision to contest all 25 wards up for grabs in Sunderland failed to notch a single victory.

There were protests at the count

In a city where asylum seekers became an issue largely on the back of the August 2002 murder of Iranian Peyman Bahmani, there was understandable tension surrounding the vote.

A small but vocal crowd of protesters had gathered in torrential rain outside the Crowtree leisure centre in Sunderland city centre, where results from the poll were being announced.

The BNP candidates were ushered in by a handful of police officers on the door, as they ran the gauntlet of demonstrators on the steps of the leisure centre.

Just inside the door, a sign warned leisure centre users that abusive language would not be tolerated was ignored by both sides as protesters chanted "Nazi scum off our streets", and BNP members, behind the glass front of the building, taunted demonstrators - holding out their red white and blue rosettes in a gesture of defiance.

Message across

Alison Dawson, one of the co-ordinators of the Sunderland Coalition for Unity and Harmony in the Community - a group set up two months ago when the BNP announced their election bid, said the protest aimed to show the far-right what the people of the city thought of them.

She told BBC News Online: "It is important we get the message across because the BNP say this is a just a starting point.

I'm delighted that the people of Sunderland have decided they do not want to be represented by fascists

Chris Mullin
Labour MP

"Next year, there will be ward boundary changes which will mean all the wards will be up for grabs."

Inside the hall, Sunderland BNP candidate David Guyan dismissed the protests.

Sporting a Union Jack tie, the former Londoner, who says he left the capital 16 years ago because there were too many immigrants, denied his party's policies incited racial hatred.

"We didn't create racial tension in the city, we just point it out to people."

He said his party did not condone racial violence, but denied Mr Bahmani's murder had been racially motivated.

The protesters who shouted out "No more racist murders" clearly disagreed.

Marginal improvement

Joe Dobbie, who also stood for the BNP last year when the party polled just over 13% of the vote, said he was confident they would improve their showing this time round.

Early results showed the BNP making a strong showing - with four of the first five wards seeing them taking second spot behind successful Labour candidates.

BNP dominated the campaign

But as the night went on, Mr Dobie and Mr Guynan could be seen rotating around the tables of the vast sports hall which housed the count, moving away from each as the mainstream candidates embraced supporters and shook hands at the news of another victory.

By the end of the night, the party had shown a marginal improvement on its 2002 return - claiming 13.75% of the vote.

Significantly though, the overall turnout had more than doubled - from 22% of voters to 46%.

Fight on

With far-right parties usually performing better in a low turnout, the result meant the mainstream parties took somewhat tainted comfort from the BNP's failure.

The party had amassed 13,652 votes from a total of 99,288 - and Sunderland South MP Chris Mullin - a vocal critic of the BNP in the run-up to the elections - agreed there was little room for complacency.

He told BBC News Online: "They have not done as well as I feared they might do and I'm delighted that the people of Sunderland have decided they do not want to be represented by fascists.

"But the message for the major parties is that we can't afford to be complacent.

"We shall try to fight as hard again next year."

As the night ended, Joe Dobbie could not hide his disappointment at failing to win any seats, but said the BNP would be back next year, when he hoped to do better.

It was a warning that the mainstream parties, and the protesters, are unlikely to ignore.