
Labour is facing its biggest threat from the BNP, Harriet Harman admits today, as the party gears up to prevent the far right group from winning its first seats in nationwide elections this June for the European Parliament.
In an interview with The Independent Ms Harman, the Leader of the Commons, who is heading Labour's election effort in in her role as the party's chairman and deputy leader, said Labour was launching its biggest-ever campaign targeting the BNP. "It is a worry," she said. "Certainly they [the BNP] are a bigger threat than they have been before."
Labour fears the BNP could land two or three seats in the European elections, which are fought under a proportional representation (PR) system based on huge regional constituencies. Labour believes the BNP threat is greatest in the North West, where its leader, Nick Griffin, is a candidate; Yorkshire and the Humber and the East and West Midlands.
Labour is mobilising at local level wherever there is a sign of heavy BNP activity. National funding has been provided for "Stop the BNP" leaflets, and Labour uses a different slogan – "fairness not fear" – rather than its national theme of "winning the fight for Britain's future". It is also linking up with anti-fascist groups such as Searchlight and sending anti-BNP battlebuses into areas targeted by the group.
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