BNP candidate barred from Inverurie debate by minister

The Press and Journal by Gillian Bell and Jamie Buchan | Tuesday, 27 April 2010 | Click here for original article

An Aberdeenshire minister has announced he will not invite a far right candidate to take part in a hustings debate in his kirk.

The Rev Graeme Longmuir is inviting all Gordon candidates except the British National Party’s Elise Jones to take part in the event on Friday night at St Andrew's Church, Inverurie.

Mr Longmuir said the BNP’s views were incompatible with Christianity.

But he said Mrs Jones was welcome to take part as a member of the audience.

The minister added: “A number of candidates would have been unhappy and one of the parties has a blanket ban on appearing on the same platform. They all support me in my decision.”

Mr Longmuir said he needed to “take a stand” as the BNP’s views included “playing on the threat of colonisation of Islam and inflaming racial hatred”, withdrawing from the European Convention on Human Rights, and reintroducing capital punishment for certain crimes.

A spokesman for the BNP said Mr Longmuir’s decision was “quashing democracy”.

“It is preventing people from hearing legitimate debate. It’s not about whether we agree or disagree with people’s positions,” the spokesman added.

The debate, which is being staged by Inverurie and District Churches Together, will start at 7pm.

Gordon candidates for the Liberal Democrats, Scottish National Party, Conservatives, Labour and Scottish Green parties will take part.

Meanwhile, another BNP candidate could be forced to take part in a north-east hustings debate on his own after rival parties barred their candidates from sharing a platform with members of the far-right group.

An election meeting of all five Banff and Buchan candidates is planned for New Deer on Thursday evening.

All have agreed to take part, but a strict all-party protocol prohibits mainstream candidates from sharing the stage with the BNP.

Five years ago, political parties in Scotland agreed that no member would share a platform with “any known racist or fascist”.

Last night, organisers of the hustings event vowed it would still go ahead in the village, but the format may have to be changed to accommodate all sides.

One solution could be that BNP hopeful Richard Payne will take to the stage first and face the public on his own.

Then he will be shuffled off to make way for mainstream candidates Eilidh Whiteford (SNP), Jimmy Buchan (Conservatives), Galen Milne (Liberal Democrats) and Glen Reynolds (Labour).

Chairman Robert McLean said: “This is the fourth such event we have held over the years, but it is the first to include a BNP candidate.

“This has given us an extra challenge to devise a format for the meeting to overcome the objections of the mainstream parties.”

He added: “We are determined that the event will go ahead in some form.”