RACIST VIOLENCE IN 15 EU MEMBER STATES - Cospe

RACIST VIOLENCE IN 15 EU MEMBER STATES - A Comparative Overview of Findings from the RAXEN NFP Reports 2001-2004
18. United Kingdom
18.1. CONTEXT
In the UK, Far Right political parties have not had the level of support in general
elections that their equivalents have had in some EU Member States. However, the
2003 results of local council elections gave the Far Right, in the form of the British
National Party (BNP), significant pockets of support in certain parts of the UK.
In the May 2003 local elections, which were held throughout the UK, the BNP won
16 seats. Given that a total of 21,000 council ‘seats’ were open for electoral
contest, these 16 wins were not a significant number. But in certain local areas the
BNP gained notable support. For example: In Burnley, in the north west of
England, the BNP won 8 council seats out of a total of 45. And in some Northern
towns and the West Midlands the BNP received over a quarter of votes cast –
though this was not reflected in seats gained as the British electoral system is based
on a ‘first past the post principle’ rather than proportional representation.
The BNP’s share of the vote needs to contextualised with respect to two major
themes/events: (1) the hostile public debate against asylum seekers that has been
on-going in the UK for some time; (2) the aftermath of 2001’s urban conflicts in
North-West English towns - involving young people from the majority and
minority populations, and the police. At the same, the focus of racist violence
shifted from its traditional origins in metropolitan centres to small towns and rural
locations where asylum seekers were housed under the government’s dispersal
policy.
However, as the RAXEN 4 report notes, the increased BNP vote was not as great
as feared. Sunderland, which was a major target for BNP campaigning in light of
local hostility to asylum seekers, did not result in a single win for the BNP.
Similarly the BNP failed to gain seats in Oldham (in the north), parts of Kent (in
the south), and south-west England – all of which witnessed local hostility towards
minorities.
These developments also need to be interpreted against Britain’s long history of
immigration, from former colonies, and the more recent influx of asylum seekers
from countries with which the UK has few links. Throughout these different
periods immigrants, as both UK citizens and non-citizens, have received a mixed
reception from the authorities.
While minorities were often labelled ‘criminals’ in the 1980s and 1990s, due
recognition is now being given to their experiences as marginalised victims of
crime. The racist murder of Stephen Lawrence, and the inquiry into the police
investigation of his death by Sir William Macpherson (1999), was a turning point
in police investigation of racist crime and violence. The report’s critique of
‘institutional racism’ in London’s Metropolitan Police had repercussions for other
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