British Facing Far Right Reaction to Immigration

Fascists on the Rise is the name of a piece about the upcoming council elections in the U.K.

The prospect of electoral success for the fascists of the BNP has been the subject of several news stories this Bank Holiday weekend.

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation said up to 25% of voters admitted they "might vote" for the far-right party.
It put the support down to feelings of "powerlessness and frustration".
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The BNP has said it is putting up more candidates than ever before - 356 - for May's local elections.
It currently has 15 councillors in councils across England.
At the launch of the party's campaign on Good Friday, Mr Griffin said the party could add "another 15 or 20" council seats to its tally.

Labour MPs worried about the rise of the British National Party (BNP) are setting up a parallel campaign organisation because they fear their own party is not doing enough to counter the far-Right.

More than 50 MPs in areas where the BNP is strong are working closely on tactics with the new organisation - Labour Friends of Searchlight - before May 4's local elections, in which it is feared the extremists will at least double their number of council seats
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Every Labour MP has been sent a letter alerting them to the need for a more highly organised anti-BNP strategy.

Jon Cruddas, the Labour MP for Dagenham and a former No 10 adviser, said the threat could no longer be ignored. Because of the electoral system, Labour, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats tended to concentrate their election efforts on key marginal seats, overlooking their "core vote".
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"But we have to complement the current strategy in key marginals with one that also addresses some of the consequences in our traditional Labour heartlands. That is what we are trying to do."
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Labour Friends of Searchlight campaign, which also helps the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats against the BNP, is led by Frank Dobson, the former Labour Cabinet minister. It is concentrating on bringing sophisticated canvassing, mailing and leafletting approaches to those areas where Labour is strong but the BNP is on the rise.

Margaret Hodge gives an interview reminiscent of Thatcher's 1978 "swamping" speech: a moment which was widely regarded as having taken the wind out of the National Front's sails, by courting its voters:

In a sensational claim, Margaret Hodge, one of Tony Blair's closest allies, said that eight out of 10 white people in her east London constituency of Barking are threatening to vote for the far-Right party in next month's local elections. Once traditional Labour supporters are angry at a lack of affordable housing - and blame immigration, and Labour, for the changes.

"They can't get a home for their children, they see black and ethnic minority communities moving in and they are angry," said Mrs Hodge, the employment minister. "When I knock on doors I say to people, 'are you tempted to vote BNP?' and many, many, many - eight out of 10 of the white families - say 'yes'. That's something we have never seen before, in all my years. Even when people voted BNP, they used to be ashamed to vote BNP. Now they are not." Mrs Hodge said the pace of ethnic change in her area had frightened people. "What has happened in Barking and Dagenham is the most rapid transformation of a community we have ever witnessed.

"Nowhere else has changed so fast. When I arrived in 1994, it was a predominantly white, working class area. Now, go through the middle of Barking and you could be in Camden or Brixton. That is the key thing that has created the environment the BNP has sought to exploit." Mrs Hodge claimed the anger is not down to racism. "It is a fear of change. It is gobsmacking change."