The BNP is coming (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

This man is canvassing for the BNP in the June council elections . . Danny LakeTHE extreme right-wing British National Party (BNP) is preparing to field candidates in Swindon's council elections in June.

The BNP will also be fighting the European elections in the Swindon region on the same day.

BNP's Wiltshire chairman Mike Howsman revealed that his party has been targeting Swindon since Christmas. And it is gaining support from people like 18-year-old Danny Lake, of Park South, who would be happy to stand if he were old enough (candidates must be aged 21 or over).

This news comes in the week of a blistering attack on the BNP by Conservative Party leader Michael Howard, who branded it a "bunch of thugs".

Three thousand propaganda leaflets have been distributed in Swindon wards considered ripe for an election ambush.

Mr Howsman said his party would be exploiting fears in the town over asylum seeker numbers, crime levels and job losses due to outsourcing to Third World countries where virtual slave labour exists.

Potential candidates are currently being screened, and the identity of most will not be unveiled until shortly before nominations have to be declared.

"We have been very encouraged by our feedback," said Mr Howsman. "Swindon residents are very frightened. Law and order has broken down. Crime is out of control. The police can't cope. And when criminals are caught, nothing happens to them."

Mr Howsman readily admitted that the BNP was targeting lower paid workers whose jobs were most at risk in today's economic climate.

Wards represented by Labour councillors were most likely to top the BNP's hitlist.

The BNP has never tried its luck in Swindon before, but its precursor, the National Front, did contest a ward with candidate Barbara Packer, who still lives in Old Town. Mr Howsman confirmed Mrs Packer, now 76, would be delivering leaflets and "door-knocking" on behalf of the BNP during the forthcoming election campaign, but would not be a candidate. She confirmed she had been leafleting in Walcot, where she believed the BNP had the best chance of winning.

Swindon Council leader Mike Bawden (Con, Old Town and Lawn) dismissed the challenge from the BNP as an "irrelevancy".

He said: "Any sensible person will not be fooled or seduced by the extremism of the BNP. The BNP, like other fanatical parties of the past, focuses on only two or three issues. It doesn't seek to offer a full agenda or programme that any right-minded person could possibly vote for.

"We need tolerance in this town, not the fuelling of hatred or division. Unfortunately, our Government's policy on immigration, so much softer than our counterparts in Europe, helps to provide a fertile breeding ground for the BNP."

Coun Stan Pajak (Lib/Dem, Eastcott) also condemned the BNP. "All their supporters ever do is appeal to people with darker natures. They tend to blame every ill on foreigners, and whenever they put out leaflets, they're full of untruths. All three major parties will have to show a united front in opposing the BNP and everything it stands for and I've no doubt that will happen."

Steve Allsopp (Lab, Parks) said: "I'm sure all parties in Swindon will echo the words of Michael Howard. The BNP has no part to play in democracy or civilised society.

"If candidates are put up in our wards, I've no doubt the electorate will treat them with the contempt they so richly deserve."

The BNP already has seven councillors in Burnley. They have also notched up a victory in Stoke-on-Trent a typical hunting ground for them, where disillusionment and despair are the main factors in an area suffering job losses and pottery factory closures.

Michael Litchfield

'Our membership is increasing'

SHOP fitter Danny Lake is canvassing for the extreme right-wing British National Party, which will be represented in Swindon's council elections in June.

Mr Lake, 18, of Parkstone Walk, Park South, Swindon, has already started leafleting propaganda for the party and claims to be recruiting three members a week.

He said: "I'm sick and tired of the way our country is being run. When I look around me everything is a mess."

Mr Lake came across the BNP when he was surfing the internet to decide how to vote in the next general election.

He said: "I knew I wanted something right-wing. But the Conservatives are a lot of hypocrites and the UK Independence Party are too narrowly focused. The BNP have better policies and they're not as controversial as some people think."

Mr Lake has already compiled a list of 36 local members and thinks the canvassing is going well. He said: "Lots of people have been making inquiries and membership is increasing."

Asylum seekers are one of his main concerns.

He said: "The rules are too lax. It makes me sick that Taliban fighters, who shot our troops, can live off taxpayers in this country."

Although Mr Lake supports the Royal Family, he is vehemently against Prince Charles' relationship with Camilla.

He said: "It's outrageous and they definitely shouldn't be allowed to marry.''

VICTORIA TAGG