Monday BNP news round up

Scottish charities body warning over BNP cash

The Institute of Fundraising Scotland (IFS), Scotland’s leading fund-raising body, has warned charities to beware of donations from the BNP after a series of high profile cases involving noble causes accepting cash from the extremist party.

The Sunday Times reported how the Gurkha Welfare Trust, the Down’s Syndrome Association and Troop Aid have all recieved donations from the BNP under false pretenses.

The charities say they have never knowingly accepted money from the party and intend to ask the BNP to remove any reference to them from its website.

Colonel William Shuttlewood, a director of the Gurkha Welfare Trust, said it would never knowingly accept money from the BNP. He said: “We are very firmly a non-political organisation and we want to keep it that way, especially when Gurkhas themselves are a political issue.”

Elsewhere in Scotland, Ron Smith, Chairman of Veterans Scotland, has bravely spoken out against organisations accepting cash from neo-fascists. Mr Smith pointed out the obvious irony: ”Many of our veterans fought in a major world war against a fascist regime”.

As the general election gets closer the BNP are doing their best to worm their way into the fabric of mainstream society. We believe that through high profile social action stunts like these, the party are cynically exploiting good will and turning it into political capital. That is why it is important for charities, like the Gurkha Welfare Trust, to take a stand and deny the BNP the opportunity to make political gain from their noble causes. We hope that other charities with similar causes follow suit and reject Nick Griffin’s money.

Alert over BNP cash for Scottish charities – The Sunday Times

Clegg vows to challenge the BNP

Nick Clegg, leader of the Liberal Democrats, has said he is determined to “take on” the BNP if they are invited by the BBC to take part in the Question Time programme.

Nick Clegg told a Lib Dem activist, “If the BBC ask one of these fascist thugs who have been elected to the European Parliament on to one of their flagship programmes, I want us to be there to take them on”. He added “I respect the argument that somehow we should seek to ignore them. But it’s too late. They are now elected.”

It great to hear a leader of a mainstream party talking about taking the fight to the BNP. The BNPare now an inconvenient fact of life and the only way to put them back in their box is by addressing the issues of today. Concerns on issues like immigration, Europe, Islamism and the economy will all need to discussed come the next general election.

However, we wonder whether the Lib Dem’s belief that migrant workers don’t displace the domestic workforce or their federalist policies on Europe will actually endear potential BNP voters away from the Nick Griffin et al.

Clegg vows TV challenge to BNP – Press association

Nick Griffin, the BNP and the UK economy

Nick Griffin MEP has taken the the decision to reject a meeting with Muhammad Hamid Ali, Economic & Trade consul at the Consulate General of Pakistan in Manchester, after he requested a meeting with the BNP leader to discuss the promotion of trade between Pakistan and Britain.

Writing on behalf of Nick Griffin, Tina Wingfield, the Griffin’s Office Manager, said:
 
“Mr Griffin believes that the problems caused by internationalism and globalisation can only be cured by protecting Britain’s economy from unfair foreign competition, whether this is in the form of the importation of foreign manufactured goods or the influx of migrant workers who undercut British wages.
 
“As an economic nationalist, he supports a policy of selective exclusion of foreign-made goods from British markets, believing that manufactured goods should be produced in British factories, employing British workers.
 
“The British economy is currently in deep recession and our manufacturing and service industries are struggling to compete on the uneven playing field of global trade.

“Unemployment is rising and increasing numbers of British-owned businesses are failing as a result of a lack of available investment capital. Mr Griffin believes that, in order to represent the best interests of his constituents, it his responsibility to ensure that British concerns are prioritised for any investment opportunities. It would be incongruous, therefore, for him to discuss the promotion increased trade links and investment between North West England and Pakistan.
 
This is the first glimpse into what a BNP government would look like.  As The Economist succinctly noted a few months ago, ”Trade encourages specialisation, which brings prosperity; global capital markets, for all their problems, allocate money more efficiently than local ones; economic co-operation encourages confidence and enhances security.” In other words, Griffins populist and barmy policies of economic protectionism would turn Britain’s recession into a 1930s-style depression, which would mean there would be no British jobs for any British workers.

“Thanks but no thanks” – Nick Griffin

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Tags: economic nationalism, Nick Clegg, Nick Griffin, social action