BNP's shock victory in council election sparks fears of surge in votes across Britain

The British National Party has scored a surprise victory in a council by-election.

The far-Right party took a seat in the Lincolnshire market town of Boston, where migrants make up a quarter of the population. Anti-racism campaigners warned that the win would lead to scaremongering about foreigners and an increase in violence and threats.

It is the first district council seat in Lincolnshire, for the British National Party. BNP candidate David Owens polled 279 votes - a 138-majority over the ruling Boston Bypass Independent candidate. The Tories came third.

In his victory speech, Mr Owens said local media organisations had tried to "hoodwink" the public into thinking the "BNP was a racist party". He said: "We are not a racist party - we are passionate about our country. I think the people of Fenside and the people of Boston have said tonight that immigration is at capacity here."

But Tory MP Mark Simmonds, who represents Boston and Skegness, said: "The BNP are a threat to our country, who contribute nothing to society. This must be a wake up call to all parties to ensure that they campaign hard and represent people effectively and leave no room for people to feel disaffected and turn to the BNP."

Labour MP Jon Cruddas, who has campaigned furiously against the BNP in his own London constituency, said: "It is always a worry when the BNP wins because with it comes escalating tensions and scaremongering and fears in the community. People have got to realise that the consequences of them giving support to the BNP at the ballot box is an increase in threats and violence."

He said it was vital that political parties tackled the underlying reasons behind the rise of the BNP - concerns about housing, jobs and public services being taken by migrants.

The town has a huge numbers of migrants, especially from Portugal and Poland, who take low-paid work on farms picking flowers, fruit and vegetables and in food processing plants. Critics have accused the Government of failing to prepare cash-strapped councils for the influx of immigrants by giving them the resources to invest in public services.

This has left schools, health facilities and transport struggling to cope with greater numbers. Earlier this year, Communities Secretary Hazel Blears admitted that 25 per cent of people in Boston, which has a population of 70,000, were migrants.

She confessed the "scale and pace of change" had been so dramatic that there are now 65 languages spoken in the market town. In the 2001 census 96 per cent of Boston residents were white British while only 1.1 percent regarded themselves as "white other" which would include eastern Europeans.

In June, Ms Blears announced plans to send a specialist "tension-busting" team of Whitehall officials into Breckland, Norfolk, where the influx of migrants has caused "friction". The area saw racial problems when Portugal knocked England out of Euro 2004 and a mob in the local town of Thetford attacked the Red Lion pub, popular with Portuguese nationals, throwing rocks and bottles and setting fire to cars.

Last month, the head of the race relations watchdog warned that Britain risked a surge in far-right extremism unless it took urgent action to target training and skills at people stuck in a new white "underclass".

Trevor Phillips, chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, said the Government urgently needed to takes active steps to help those hit hardest by the economic crisis - including the white working class.

Daily Mail

Equality chief warns of race ‘cold war’

The head of Britain’s race relations watchdog says lack of control over immigration has led to a racial “cold war” among rival ethnic communities.

Trevor Phillips, chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), believes that the failed policy risks inflaming racism among millions of young mothers and working professionals.

In an address to mark the 40th anniversary of Enoch Powell’s infamous “rivers of blood” speech in which Powell warned of apocalyptic social consequences if the rising tide of immigration were not halted, Phillips will say that the predictions have not come true. But he will warn that mass immigration has caused a different form of “war” that is just as worrying.

“Powell predicted ‘hot’ conflict and violence. However, we have seen the emergence of a kind of cold war in some parts of the country, where very separate communities exist side by side . . . with poor communication across racial or religious lines,” Phillips will say.

“In essence, Powell so discredited any talk of planning or control that it gave rise to a migration policy in which government knew too little about what was going on. Ironically, Powellism and the weakening of control it engendered may have led Britain to admitting more immigrants than fewer.”

Phillips will also warn ministers that they are playing into the hands of antiimmigrant parties such as the British National party by failing to respond to justified concerns among large sections of the “settled” population about the impact of mass immigration on their daily lives.

In a speech - to be delivered in the same Birmingham hotel where Powell polarised the public debate on race in 1968 - Phillips will say: “For every professional woman who is able to go out to work because she has a Polish nanny, there is a young mother who watches her child struggle in a classroom where a harassed teacher faces too many children with too many languages between them.

“Wanting a better deal for her child doesn’t make her antiimmigrant. But if we can’t find a better answer to her despair then she soon will be.

“For every boss whose bacon is saved by the importation of skilled IT professionals or crafts-people or health professionals, there are a thousand people who wonder every morning why they have to put up with the misery of a packed railway carriage or bus - if they can get on in the first place. Wanting an infrastructure that doesn’t make getting to work daily hell doesn’t make someone a natural voter for an antiimmigrant party. But it soon will.”

In a wide-ranging interview ahead of his speech, Phillips emphasised that he did not believe that too many immigrants had come to Britain. But he wanted to highlight that mismanaged policy had raised fears in the resident population about the impact of so many migrants on their daily lives.

Britain is probably the most tolerant country in Europe, he is expected to say. But the legacy of Powell and a “lack of control” over immigration policy by governments of both parties meant that it has gained an unfair reputation as one of the most xeno-phobic.

“It always seems like we’re a country that hates foreign people,” he said in the interview. He said this false image - which he described as a “calumny” - alienated highly qualified and well trained foreign migrants.

“My fear is that because we’ve been gripped [by this image] for 40 years . . . then we are going to miss the boat. Why would immigrants come to Britain if we behave as if we don’t want them?”

Powell’s notorious comments had the effect of making immigration a subject to be avoided by mainstream political parties for fear of being branded racists.

In his speech Phillips will lay out a programme for managed migration and will say: People should not be intimidated from making legitimate criticism of ethnic minorities.

Women should be treated equally and children properly protected in all communities. “Fair treatment” should not be reserved for ethnic minorities. “We need to do more for young white men who are having to compete with clever Polish graduates,” he will say.

Ministers should actively manage the geographical balance of migration. More migrants should be encouraged to settle in Scotland.

The EHRC is today also publishing an interactive map which reflects the racial diversity of 30 British cities.

Sunday Times