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news
 29th May 2008
May 2008 BNP election results
The fascist British National Party (BNP) is in a strengthened position following the 1 May elections. The BNP has gained a seat on the London Assembly, which is the biggest electoral breakthrough for a fascist organisation in British history.
The BNP gained a net 10 councillors. Their total number of councillors across England is now 54. The BNP gained two seats in Rotherham - their first in South Yorkshire. No further seats were won in West Yorkshire and a Kirklees councillor was defeated. In July, a further Kirklees councillor left the BNP group to be an independent. The BNP now have 7 councillors in Yorkshire & the Humber.
Looking ahead to June 2009 and the European elections, a number of factors indicate the BNP will be challenging for a seat:
1. The BNP’s vote in local elections was over 100,000 last year (when the whole region had elections). This is not far behind their 2004 European vote, even though the BNP did not stand in the majority of Yorkshire & Humber seats.
2. The collapse of UKIP. In this year’s London Assembly elections, around one third of UKIP’s lost vote went to the BNP.
3. In 2004 there was an all-postal ballot which boosted the turnout. This will not be happening in 2009. The London elections show that turnout is important. A slightly higher turnout could have stopped the BNP. Therefore increasing the turnout in the European elections will be crucial.
Local elections 2008 - Yorkshire & the Humber
| BNP results | BNP seats |
| Council | Wards | Votes | % | Top 5 | New | Total |
| Rotherham | 5 | 4,522 | 28.4% | 28.4% | 2 | 2 |
| Leeds | 33 | 22,094 | 11.5% | 27.7% | | 1 |
| Bradford * | 8 | 7,519 | 24.1% | 27.2% | | 2 |
| Barnsley | 20 | 9,959 | 18.2% | 26.6% | | |
| Kirklees | 20 | 15,090 | 14.4% | 24.5% | | 1 |
| Calderdale | 9 | 4,355 | 16.1% | 21.2% | | 1 |
| Wakefield | 12 | 6,567 | 15.2% | 20.0% | | |
| Sheffield | 8 | 5,489 | 14.9% | 18.2% | | |
| Doncaster | 3 | 1,181 | 12.5% | | | |
| Harrogate | 6 | 353 | 5.3% | 5.8% | | |
| Hull | 0 | | | | | |
| North East Lincolnshire | 0 | | | | | |
| Craven | 0 | | | | | |
‘Top 5’ is the average BNP vote in their top 5 wards on that council. This figure allows for more accurate comparison between councils where there BNP stand a few seats and those where they stand in many or all of the seats.
* Bradford figures include the results of the Democratic Nationalist Party, a direct split from the BNP. Where they have stood against the BNP, the fascist vote has been split (with the vast majority still going to the BNP). It is expected that the Democractic Nationalist voters will return to the BNP in the near future so their votes have been combined here.
For the first time, the BNP gained seats in South Yorkshire. They polled highly in Rotherham and Barnsley, but maintained their strong position in West Yorkshire councils including Leeds, Kirklees and Bradford. Overall, the BNP polled over 1,000 votes in 12 West Yorkshire wards and only 2 in South Yorkshire.
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