BNP will field city election candidate

By Phil Stubbs | Friday, 2 July 2004 | Click here for original article

Derby's first British National Party candidate will be standing in the forthcoming by-election in Mackworth.

Nominations from five political parties have been received for the by-election on Thursday, July 29, which follows the death of Labour councillor Lonny Wilsoncroft in May.

Labour, the Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats and United Kingdom Independence Party all submitted nominations to Derby City Council's returning officer before the noon deadline today.

A fifth, surprise nomination was also submitted this morning by Robert Poundall, of Mortimer Street, Osmaston, the candidate for the far-right BNP.

It is the first time a BNP candidate has stood in Derby's election history, despite suggestions earlier in the year that it would field a number of candidates in the local elections last month.

The BNP nomination has been met with mixed feelings.

Mackworth resident Dennis Hardwick, a Labour supporter, of Kingsbury Road, said: "It is democracy - it's as simple as that."

But Lib Dem council leader Maurice Burgess said: "I am disappointed that the BNP is putting up a candidate.

"I do hope that the residents will have more sense than to vote such a candidate onto the city council."

Sadie Graham, BNP spokeswoman for Derbyshire, said she expected her colleague to attract the support of hundreds. "People in Mackworth are more likely to vote for us than UKIP," she said. "We are not a single-issue party."

She also denied that BNP members were racist. "We are a legal and democratic political party," said Ms Graham. "We have just as much right to stand as any other party. We are not racist. We are just concerned British citizens who want to get our country back."

Balbir Sandhu, chairman of the Indian Community Centre, in Rawdon Street, Normanton, said: "It is a dangerous thing for all communities in Derby."

The Mackworth by-election result could affect the balance of power on the council.

Currently, Labour is the single biggest party with 24 seats, but it has been denied power for the second year running by a Lib Dem/Tory alliance, which jointly secured 25 seats following the June 10 local elections.

Boulton councillor Frank Leeming, the council's only independent (UKIP) councillor, has refused to make any decision on possible future allegiances with the main parties until after the by-election.

The four other candidates standing in Mackworth are Lisa Higginbottom (Labour), Frank Harwood (Conservative), Simon Lysczenko (Lib Dem) and Martin Bardoe (UKIP).

Ms Higginbottom (34), of Walthamstow Drive, Mackworth, is currently favourite to replace the late Ms Wilsoncroft on the basis of Labour's Richard Gerrard retaining his own Mackworth seat in June.

She said: "I accept it will be hard act to follow."

She added: "I don't think we will have anything to worry about with the BNP candidate."