The BNP is set to field a record number of candidates in next month's general election, which comes less than a year after the party won two seats in the European Parliament.
Warning that he fears Britain will wake up on 7 May to find the BNP has gained its first member of Parliament and up to 50 additional council seats. Fiyaz Mughal demanded that Labour, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats do more to counter Nick Griffin's far-right party.
The director of Faith Matters, who also serves as an adviser on extremism to Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg, told the Jewish News: The political parties should now be involved in a cross synergy of activities against the BNP, but they are all too busy trying to score points off each other on this issue. I want to see the parties do more individually and collectively because it's a national security issue, not a party political or diversity issue.
And while acknowledging that major parties were taking some action in this battle, he described this activity as merely papering over the edges. In the wake of the BNP�s gains at the European elections, Mughal brought together representatives from eight cultural anti-extremist and faith-based organisations including the Board of Deputies and the CST.
He said the aim was partly to learn, disseminate and promote some of the efforts taking place in the Jewish community from where a majority of anti-BNP activity emanates.
Mughal now wants to see the political leaders make people aware of the reality of the far right through their messages and that it is a threat to all communities not just the Muslim and Jewish communities.
And he also called for the three main parties to hold a joint meeting with interested groups after the poll to develop a plan that looks at how each of the stakeholders can play a role over the next few years in tackling this. They have got to ensure that each partner has resources.
Mughal's call for a united approach against the BNP was yesterday backed by the CST. Spokesman Mark Gardner said: The mainstream parties are well aware of our community's concerns regarding the BNP and share many of them. As a point of principle, we would support calls for the leading parties to work together on combating the BNP, but we recognise that such co-operation will be partly influenced by local constituency factors and personalities.
While saying that political parties have a role to play in combatting the BNP together�, Three Faiths Forum Director Stephen Shashoua stressed this is not only about politics. The more people that are coming out against the bnp the better.
The top three parties last night moved quickly to emphasise their abhorrence to the BNP and their credentials against the party. Liberal Democrat Spokesperson said: We have a strong record of taking on the BNP, for example in Burnley where we have won a series of electoral victories over them. We believe that the best way to take on the BNP is by addressing the issues on the doorstep and showing people that BNP's brand of hate-fuelled politics is useless. A Labour Party spokesperson said: We are fighting hard against the BNP�s vile and divisive politics wherever they are active, and we believe that on polling day the British people will clearly reject the disgusting politics of the BNP. For the Conservatives, Shadow Cohesion minister Baroness Sayeeda Warsi said: The BNP are completely beyond the pale. They are an appalling bunch of people. What the mainstream parties have to do is prove their worth. Get on the doorstep, explain to people how we are going to take up their concerns, how we are going to respond to their issues. That is the best way to beat these dreadful people by working together on combating the BNP. But we recognise that such co-operation will be partly influenced by local constituency factors and personalities.
While saying that political parties have a role to play in combatting the BNP together, Three Faiths Forum Director Stephen Shashoua stressed this is not only about politics. The more people that are coming out against the BNP the better.
The three main parties last night moved quickly to emphasise their abhorrence of the BNP. A Liberal Democrat spokesperson said: The best way to take the BNP on is by showing people that its brand of hate-fuelled politics is useless.
A Labour Party spokesperson said: We are fighting against the BNP's vile politics and believe that on polling day the British people will clearly reject their disgusting politics.
For the Conservatives, Shadow Cohesion Minister Baroness Sayeeda Warsi said:
The BNP are completely beyond the pale. They are an appalling bunch of people. What the mainstream parties have to do is prove their worth. Get on the doorstep, explain to people how we are going to take up their concerns, how we are going to respond to their issues. That is the best way to beat these dreadful people.
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