Concern at BNP election meeting held in town hall

Exclusive Rob Waugh | Wednesday, 12 May 2004 Source: Yorkshire today

THE British National Party has signalled its intention to make a breakthrough in Yorkshire's main urban centres in next month's local elections by holding its first-ever meeting in a Leeds council building. The far-Right party's leader Nick Griffin was among the speakers at the meeting at Morley Town Hall which was attended by 120 BNP supporters and activists.

The party is to offer up to 16 candidates in Leeds - twice last year's figure - and may put up in excess of 100 candidates across Yorkshire. The meeting, on Wednesday evening, has led to concerns about the party's growing local support and whether it should be permitted to hold meetings in council buildings.

Last night, Leeds City Council said it was legally obliged to allow the event to go ahead on Wednesday because any legitimate political party had a right of access to a public venue during the election period.

But a spokesman added "The council also has to take account of whether the police believe the meeting represents a public order risk. However, after studying guidance to local authorities and consulting with local police, the council took the view there was no public-order risk and no proper legal reason for not allowing this meeting to go ahead.

"Each application is judged on its particular circumstances and this does not set a precedent for the acceptance of any future applications by the BNP."

Senior councillors last night suggested the council should look at stopping the party using council premises outside official election periods.

Last September, neighbouring Bradford Council stopped the party from holding a meeting in a public building in Queensbury on the grounds that it presented a potential threat to public safety because of threats of counter-demonstrations. The BNP has since launched a legal challenge to the ban.

The leader of Leeds' Labour-run council, Keith Wakefield, said he was "very, very unhappy" that the BNP had been able to use a council building.

He said he would want to ban such usage outside the election period. "We want to make it very clear they are not welcome in our city, their messages are not welcome and neither are their policies."

The meeting was booked by Chris Beverley, the BNP's West Yorkshire regional organiser, who is standing in the Morley South ward at the local elections.

Attendance was arranged among local party supporters and was not advertised publicly.

He said: "I'm sure the Labour-controlled council wouldn't want us to hire rooms and councils around here have stopped us holding meetings before.

"But if they had stopped the meeting because we were the BNP, we would have taken legal action.

"We are a completely legitimate party and we are allowed to book rooms like anyone else."

Liberal Democrat leader Mark Harris acknowledged the BNP had a democratic right to use council premises in this pre-election period.

But he added: "The council has discretion, and the view I would take outside an election period is what the BNP says is so abhorrent that the council has a right to use that discretion not to allow them to use its buildings."

Tory group leader Andrew Carter said it was "regrettable" the meeting had taken place in a council building. But he added: "The only way to beat these people is to confront the issues they are raising in a realistic and straightforward way and not be afraid to debate them.

"Until we spell out our own policies clearly, these people are going to go on using the system and exploiting dissent among voters."

The BNP has not previously enjoyed a high-profile presence in Leeds or the other big cities in Yorkshire. It has scored electoral success on two smaller authorities - Calderdale Council, where it has three councillors, and Kirklees, where it has one.