Tories will walk out if BNP stand in Europe

The Courier by Stefan Morkis | Thursday, 2 April 2009 | Click here for original article

CONSERVATIVES that are to stand for the European Parliament have said they will not share a platform with candidates from the far-right BNP.

The BNP will field six candidates in Scotland at the Euro Elections in June.

However, the Conservatives have said they will not take part in hustings where the party is involved.

Tory MEP Struan Stevenson said, “The BNP are running a full field of candidates in Scotland.

“All of our candidates have agreed not to share a hustings with them. We are not sharing a platform with fascists or racists.”

Conservative MEPs will withdraw from the centre-right EPP-ED group after the June elections but Mr Stevenson denied this could hand control of the European Parliament to the socialist group of MEPs.

The EPP-ED is the largest group in the Parliament and includes the parties of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

However, eurosceptics in the Conservatives believe the party is too federalist.

“Three-and-a-half years ago, David Cameron announced this was his intention so we’ve been busying ourselves looking for new allies since then,” said Mr Stevenson.

“We’re talking about joining a group of about 60 MEPs from nine different member states — the size of that group will be bigger than the SNP and Greens.

“We will have a committee chairmanship and a vice-chairmanship and, eventually, I think more people will join us.

“We are talking about a majority of 40 of us withdrawing and I don’t think that the socialists would then be the biggest group.

“This is not an unhappy divorce. We will continue to work very closely together.”