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04/29/2009: "BNP could get £2m EU funds, Hain warns"

Hain also urges his own party to get its act together at the grass roots to fight the BNP in the elections. Some close allies of Gordon Brown, such as his former parliamentary aide and current government whip, Ian Austin, argue that the best way to combat the BNP is not to predict its success, but to tell the truth about its extremism, and to combat it at local level.

But Labour acknowledges at the highest levels that the elections could transform the BNP from a fringe party at local elections to a national party with European funding. There is also a debate on whether leaders of established political parties should steer clear of leading the fight against the BNP. Campaign groups such as Searchlight, the anti-fascist magazine, believe that attacks from mainstream Westminster figures will only add to the BNP's anti-establishment credentials.

In an article for the Guardian, Hain warns: "Winning European seats would secure an unprecedented platform, and entitle the BNP to draw down hundreds of thousands of euros from Brussels indirectly to buttress their full-time personnel and organisation. With unemployment and job insecurity rising, with some major construction sites appearing to bar local unionised labour, and affordable housing in short supply, these are classic conditions for the BNP's racist and fascist politics to thrive."

[ Hain and the Labour Party should see which of the BNP's policies they could copy if they want to block the road to Nationalist victory. Let's see - what about letting in thousands of Gurkhas? That sounds like one they would consider. ]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/apr/29/bnp-peter-hain-european-elections