The BNP would censor soaps such as Eastenders and Coronation Street to encourage a higher morality. There would be a new clause-28 proscription against the promotion of racial integration in schools and the media. All staff at teacher training colleges will face “compulsory re-evaluation and retraining”. The Press Complaints Commission will replaced with a new BNP body (source: BNP manifesto 2005).

The BNP is keen to portray themselves as on the side of free speech, victims of government censorship. And to some extent, they are right. If the BNP want to indulge themselves in holocaust denial or racist bigotry, then we should not be afraid to let the British people see for themselves the vileness of their views.

However, after examining the BNP’s policies, the idea that they are on the side of free speech simply doesn’t ring true. On assumption of power, no doubt the BNP rightly suspect an avalanche of investigation and criticism by the media and those who would stand up for true British values. In order to protect their position and spread their ideas they already have a plan:

-          The arts censored. The BNP would treat British adults like children, censoring popular television programmes such as Eastenders or Coronation Street, demanding they portray “slightly ‘higher’ than real-life behaviour.” Presumably this means no more crime, broken marriages or Dirty Den. Apart from sounding extravagantly boring, not only would this be grossly patronising to the British people, but it shows the BNP’s priorities. Rather than focus on and empathise with the problems in our society, they’d prefer we turned a blind eye.

-          The press bullied. In their last manifesto, the BNP somewhat chillingly propose to “hold meetings with the proprietors” of all the meetings of the major newspapers in order to prevent them “printing lies.” The Press Complaints Commission is to be abolished, and a new criminal offence for the “deliberate dissemination of falsehoods” created.

-          Children indoctrinated. Schools would become a vehicle to spread the BNP’s racial hate. Not only would they make it an offence to teach about racial harmony, but every trainee teacher would be evaluated, filtered and retrained to make sure they are pushing BNP values.

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The BNP wishes to portray itself as a party tough on crime, untainted by the political correctness of the other mainstream parties. They would bring back the death penalty, introduce automatic prison sentences for repeat offenders and electronically tagged chain gangs to provide labour (source: BNP mini manifesto 2007). They seek to create a new culture of discipline by restoring corporate punishment in schools, bring back national service and require each adult to own a standard issue military assault rifle. (source: BNP manifesto 2005)

As part of their reactionary nostalgia, the BNP believe the behaviour in our society is going downhill, and the only way to confront this is with the return to a culture of discipline. While mainstream politicians might promise tougher sentencing or giving headmasters more power to expel pupils, the BNP take this to an extreme: compulsory prison sentences, canes back in our schools and guns on our streets.

The BNP believe that Britain should follow the Swiss example, where each adult that has completely keeps an assault rifle and ammunition in their home. Not only they say would this be a significant deterrent to crime, but it would act as a check on a strong central BNP government.

The problems of crime and deprivation in our society are complex, but the BNP’s policies would only succeed in making them worse:

Guns on our streets. Britain doesn’t have a gun culture. The BNP are openly advocating the policy in order to create an army of gun toting vigilantes and it’s likely that their wish would come true. Increasing the arsenal of our criminals without solving the underlying social problems is a recipe for disaster.

The British people simply don’t like guns, or want them in this country. We’re not Switzerland or America. One of the blessings of living in Britain today is that we don’t have to be afraid of running into armed criminals at night. There’s nothing British about gun culture.

Bring back the cane. The BNP would return corporal punishment to our schools. While giving teachers and schools more power is desirable, that doesn’t mean bringing back the cane is the right answer. Children from broken homes need their teachers to be their friends and mentors, not another authority figure who inflicts pain.

A culture of violence. The BNP doesn’t understand modern, liberal Britain. The British people don’t want to live in a society where our young are conscripted into the army, the innocent can be killed by the state, or chain gangs roam our towns.

No real answer to the Broken Society. While the BNP claim to be on the side of Britain’s poor, their authoritarian policy shows their true instincts. If the BNP were really on the side of Britain’s deprived, they would struggle how to deal with the problems caused by family breakdown, the drug war and anti social behaviour. Handing out assault rifles is not the answer.

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The BNP would expel all illegal immigrants, and  encourage Britons of other ethnicities to migrate through a new system of grants (source). They would lock down Britain’s borders, increasing the funding of border controls by 500%. There would be a new clause-28 proscription against the promotion of racial integration in schools and the media (source: BNP manifesto 2005).

Protecting ‘indigenous Britain’ is the BNP’s number one priority, and they would spare no expense or effort on their quest for a return to a white Britain. The result would be tear liberal tolerant, Britain to shreds.

-          Fortress Britain. As totalitarian countries in the past such as East Germany or the Soviet Union have discovered, shutting down a country’s borders is not as easy as it sounds. If the BNP are serious about preventing all illegal immigration, then Britain’s borders will need to be completely locked down. There will be naval patrols, restrictions on visas, DNA checks at border control, no vehicle allowed in or out. The costs and red tape for doing international business will explode, as visas become difficult to get. Trade costs soar as each shipping container and lorry is extensively searched before entry to the country

-          Big Brother Britain. No loose ends could be left as BNP authorities scoured the country, trying to root out every last illegal immigrant. Houses would be searched, warehouses ransacked. Presumably, the BNP’s plan to abolish identity cards would not long.

-          Schools turned into incubators of hate. The BNP would ban schools from promoting racial harmony. Instead, they’d rather use teachers to indoctrinate our children with their twisted ideology, turning Briton against Briton.  

-          Britain erupts into civil war. Understandably, Britain’s ethnic minorities – it’s blacks, Asians, Europeans and Jews – would feel more than a little under threat by the election of a BNP government. With children being taught to hate anyone of a different skin, and obligatory ownership of  assault rifles as part of the BNP’s law and order strategy, it would take not a much to spark major inter community conflict. The results would be bloody.

The BNP’s racist policy would turn liberal, cosmopolitan, tolerant but proud Britain into a authoritarian chaotic warzone.

Nineteenth century Germany was one of the most tolerant countries in the whole world, until extremists turned its people against each other.

We should not let the same happen here.

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