As you may have seen on the news tonight, Blackburn has gained its first BNP councillor. They won the local Mill Hill By-election by 16 votes - completely demolishing the Lib Dem and Tory votes in the area.

This is in my opinion a disaster for the North West as it has shown that the BNP can get themselves elected on a by-election level as well as general local elections around here and come 2004 (when all of Blackburn with Darwen Council are up for election) they are likely to make a strong showing.

A few things have come to light over the course of today while conducting normal election day activity for one of the main contesting parties. Firstly, they will stop at nothing to discredit their rivals. I am used to opposition leafets bending the truth a little and using statistics to their advantage, just as my party does with their mailings - its what political language does *shrugs* However, the BNP put out a leaflet in MIll Hill that was made to look like a Liberal Democrat Leaflet and was extremely offensive. The material made out that the Lib Dems were in support of peadophiles amongst other things and includes an image of the party logo made out of condoms and syringes.

Given that prior to the by-electon this was a Lib Dem seat i think its clear what has happened her and i beleive that it is a conributing factor to the massive decrease in the Liberal vote.

The second thing that struck me was the massive increase in younger voters turning out at the poll station to vote BNP. From behavior (such as not knowing that you had to go to a particular polling station to cast your vote) it was clear that many of these people who were in their early to mid twenties ahd never been to vote before and somehow the BNP managed to get them out. How?? There are hundreds of young people out there that despise the BNP and their poicies. How do we get them out to vote?

And the last thing is probably the most disturbing. While out 'knocking up' and on poll stations various members of other parties were filmed in close up by the BNP. Why? Are they going to be made out as supporters or are they being earmarked for something else??

I know that one counciller doesn't seem like much, but i'm genuinely worried about what could happen in one and a half years time if the severely concentrated efforts of the three main parties can't keep this element out of one by-election

(Edited by Sydney 27/11/2002 09:07)