The BNP gain 17th council seat
The right-wing British National Party has secured another council by-election seat, after winning its 17th local council in England.
On Thursday evening, David Exley took the Heckmondwike seat for Kirklees council in West Yorkshire.
The BNP gained 1,607 votes. The Liberal Democrats’ Tabasum Aslam came second with 1493.
Tim Crowther, an independent candidate, came third with 1147. Florence Smith of Labour gained 982 and Tory candidate Roger Roberts received 490 votes. The Green’s Heidi Smithson won 76.
The council is hung, with no single political party forming a majority.
Police earlier prepared for possible clashes between left-wingers and supporters of Mr Exley.
Last night, 50 people demonstrated against his election, shouting anti-Nazi slogans.
Labour Party chairman Ian McCartney said the BNP’s ascendancy, deemed “nasty, extremist and racist,” came on the back of “empty promises and bogus respectability.”
The election came after Labour’s Mr Crowther resigned to run as an independent, after falling out with his party.
The BNP has two councillors on neighbouring Calderdale council, where it won a by-election in January and took another seat last May.
Barry Sheerman, Labour MP for Huddersfield, had urged local voters to resist the swing to the extreme right.
Speaking to Huddersfield Labour Party’s general management committee he said: “Towns and communities linked to the BNP are seriously undermined as centres for new investment and new jobs.
“These are the dangers we face when our excellent communities become contaminated by an association with the BNP.”
