 The BNP threat in 2008
The 2007 local elections were good as far as we were concerned. The BNP not only did not gain councillors but in many areas their share of the vote and actual vote dropped. This was especially the case in some of their core areas such as West Yorkshire and the West Midlands. This was no accident but the result of hard work by Searchlight, local anti-BNP groups and the political parties which have radically improved the way they perform against the BNP.
The Hope not Hate campaign and in particular the collaborative work with the Daily Mirror helped raise the profile of our anti-fascist campaign and brought new activists into our orbit.
However, there can be no room for complacency. The BNP have now admitted that Searchlight "out-organised them" and that the political parties have found a formula to defeat them and they will not make some of these mistakes again. Whilst the BNP is currently beset by internal problems this may have little negative impact on their electoral chances. Searchlight has long argued that the BNP does well often despite itself and 2008 will be no different.
There are 74 wards which the BNP can gain on a 10% swing or less. While there are fewer ultra-vulnerable seats than last year we cannot presume that the political parties will fight the same strong campaign that saw them succeed in 2007 and there will be no counting the political climate at the time of the election. We only have to remember how two weeks of media coverage boosted the BNP vote in 2006.
In addition, we are only a year away from the all-important European elections and if results like those achieved by the BNP this year are anywhere near repeated then the BNP will gain several MEPs and this will radically alter the political landscape.
Our main priority for 2008 will be stopping the BNP winning representation on the London Assembly. Given that the BNP polled 4.8% in 2004, with UKIP securing 8.2% - a figure not likely to be repeated as the party has virtually collapsed in the capital - then it is going to require a Herculean feat. The BNP will gain one seat with just 5% of the vote, two seats with little over 8% and three seats with 11%. However, we are confident that with the right campaign we can keep them out of City Hall.
The 2008 Hope not Hate campaign will be our biggest to date. It has to be. It will build on our success of last year whilst introducing new and imaginative initiatives which we believe will encourage anti-BNP voters to turn out.
To achieve our goals we need to build the Hope not Hate campaign. We want it to be your campaign. Please get involved and let's build a mass campaign that can keep fascism out of local government.
To see a map of the key local authority battlefield click here
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