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Blears sounds warning about BNP Blears sounds warning about BNP
(about 8 hours later)
Communities Secretary Hazel Blears has said white working-class voters turn to the British National Party because they feel ignored by mainstream parties. White working-class voters turn to the British National Party because they feel ignored by mainstream parties, the communities secretary has said.
Writing in the Guardian newspaper, Ms Blears accuses the BNP of playing on people's apprehensions and peddling "pernicious but plausible lies". Hazel Blears accused the BNP of playing on people's apprehensions and peddling "pernicious but plausible lies".
She says other parties had to work to win back voters on "ignored" estates. She says other parties had to work to win back voters on "ignored" estates by using more "normal language".
A BNP spokesman said the comments made by Ms Blears "showed Labour are very worried about our advances".
The minister made similar comments in 2006 after the far-right party made gains in the local elections.The minister made similar comments in 2006 after the far-right party made gains in the local elections.
'Tiny' membership Her comments followed the publication of a BNP members' list on the internet.
This latest article follows the publication of a BNP members' list on the internet. She told the BBC politicians from all parties must work hard to win back the trust and confidence of disaffected voters by proving that mainstream politics has the answers they seek.
In the article, Ms Blears says politicians from all parties must work hard to win back the trust and confidence of disaffected voters by proving that mainstream politics has the answers they seek. 'Filling a vacuum'
This required a revival of local political culture, a significant shift of power from the centre to the community and politicians who look and sound like the people they represent, she writes. "Sometimes people feel the political world is very far-removed from their everyday existence," she said.
She points out how the repositioning of the BNP under Nick Griffin had allowed the party to reach all kinds of voters. "There's something about the language we use... it's sometimes like a very closed world. If mainstream political parties leave a vaccuum, people like the BNP will fill that vaccuum.
The BNP steps in with offers of grass-cutting, a listening ear and easy answers to complex problems Hazel Blears, Communities Secretary "The BNP is a very divisive force. They aren't really interested in bringing people from different backgrounds together."
It had employed a "cunning strategy" of "detoxification", she says, and hit the streets with newsletters and petitions, and reached out to thousands via their website and blogs. However, she said that the leaked list published earlier this week, containing the names, home addresses, phone numbers and professions of some 10,000 BNP members, showed support for the part was relatively small.
In the article, she calls on politicians to continue to "campaign vigorously against the BNP: demonstrate, picket, leaflet and argue" but warns that shouting "Nazi" at BNP activists is not the answer. Ms Blears has called for a revival of local political culture, a significant shift of power from the centre to the community and politicians who look and sound like the people they represent.
"We must recognise that where the BNP wins votes, it is often a result of local political failure," she says. She said politicians must focus on the electorate's "bread and butter issues" such as whether people had jobs and a roof over their heads.
"Estates that have been ignored for decades; voters taken for granted; local services that have failed; white working-class voters who feel politicians live on a different planet. In such a political vacuum, the BNP steps in with offers of grass-cutting, a listening ear and easy answers to complex problems." She says BNP support is "focused on a small number of specific areas such as Leicester and east London".
She also writes that the leaked list published earlier this week, containing the names, home addresses, phone numbers and professions of some 10,000 members, revealed support for the BNP was "tiny". "And unlike during the 30s, modern British fascism does not enjoy any sympathy in the civil service, chattering classes or the media."
"It is focused on a small number of specific areas such as Leicester and east London.
"And unlike during the 30s, modern British fascism does not enjoy any sympathy in the civil service, chattering classes or the media," she writes.