National Front meeting called off

| Friday, 27 April 2007 Source: Luton Today

Far-right party fails to meet deadline

A controversial National Front meeting at a Caddington school has been cancelled.

The far-right party was planning to hold a public event at Heathfield Lower School on Saturday morning as part of its local election campaign for candidate Derek Godfrey.

But chairman of the school's governors Richard Stay has put a stop to the meeting after the political party failed to show evidence of liability insurance by a Friday noon deadline.

Mr Stay said: "I gave them reasonable notice that we needed to have that evidence by midday today - they failed.

"It's my role to guarantee the protection of staff and children at the school. So, I called the meeting off."

The NF's Caddington candidate is standing in the South Beds District Council elections on Thursday.

All parties standing in elections are legally entitled to a platform and Heathfield was booked as the only viable venue in the village.

Mr Stay said the meeting had been advertised on the NF's website and said it was possible supporters would still arrive in Caddington on Saturday.

"I anticipate people will come up, but that's a police problem, not mine. I did what was in the best interests of all," he said.