Labour has at last acknowledged the damage the BNP’s rise has caused them. Interviewed by Andrew Neil, Peter Hain admitted that government failure on housing and migration had heightened the BNP’s appeal, and, in an interview in this morning’s Independent, Alan Johnson elaborates on his claim that successive governments have been “maladroit” in handling immigration.
“Part of its (the BNP’s) attraction is that it is raising things that other political parties don’t raise. It would take the absence of a national debate as the green light to distort the debate. It has absolutely no inhibition about lying about these issues.”
Griffin’s and Brons’ victory proved that starving the BNP of publicity had palpably failed to arrest the party’s rise, so Labour must change tactics. There is a definite need to debate immigration, not only to defeat the BNP but because the social and economic effects are no longer sustainable.
Britain’s best politics newsletters
You get two free articles each week when you sign up to The Spectator’s emails.
Already a subscriber? Log in
Comments
Join the debate, free for a month
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first month free.
UNLOCK ACCESS Try a month freeAlready a subscriber? Log in