The dust has almost settled. My assessment of how the BNP performed.

[daftpunk]

Ok, they didn't make the political breakthrough I'd hoped for, but if you look at the results they are actually very encouraging.

The BNP got 563,743 votes (dispite only fighting half of all the available 650 seats)

They got 10% of the vote. That is pretty amazing for a small party, and under proportional representation those votes would result in seats.

NC will merge with someone (eventually?) and as one of his main aims is to push through PR it's all good for the BNP.

What do these results mean for the BNP ?

The tripling of the BNP vote on May 6th has some important implications.

Firstly, where they went head to head with UKIP and the Greens they thrashed them, they overtook UKIP in 178 seats, and UKIP have far more money than the BNP, and of course UKIP and the Greens are favoured by the media.

Secondly, while all minority parties were pushed to the edge by the bigger parties, the BNP's vote not only help up, but proportionally increased when compared to their June 2009 Euro election results.

The BNP are here to stay, and although the election was a disappointment in some respests, it was a clear sign that 1000's of people up and down the country support the policies of the BNP.

And let's not forget, political pundits had all but written off the Labour party after they lost the 92'election....

They went on to win 3 elections.

I think the BNP's star is well on the wane largely as a result of Griffiths' appearance on Question Time helping many see what they're really all about.

They lost all their council seats... precisely where they expected to see gains. (Overtaking UKIP is not exactly a barometer of success). One of the main arguments that could result in a 'No' referendum on PR is the possibility of BNP getting a toe-hold in parliament. And if the referendum is for/against the AV system and it is passed, this does not favour the very small minority parties. Political pundits may have written off Labour in 1992 but this is hardly a comparable situation.

You can try to put a positive gloss on it but 'disappointment' must be something of an understatement for the BNP

Does anyone give a shit about them? I know I don't. Or what your assessment of the situation is...

Am I reading this correctly?

I thought this was meant to be an intelligent site of well-educated women? Are there seriously BNP supporters on here?

Bloody hell- I've just spent about half an hour registering, tweaking all my settings, thread exclusions etc etc. Please tell me it was not a waste of a sunny afternoon?

larrysgal, well, there's one. And you've now met her. Please explore the rest of the site and rest assured that DP's ideas are not shared, nor condoned, by the vast majority of Mners.

Thank goodness for that! I will have a look around, thankyou.

Well in a nation of over 60 million people it is reasonable to expect 10% of the population to be wankers so it is neither unsuprising or promising for the BNP to have got the number of votes they did.

Larrysgal: Similar applies to MN. It has a large following of which the VAST majority a sensible, intelligent posters but there is the odd tosser here and there

Welcome to MN, btw!

Labours 92' election defeat is relevant, they were full of hope then...just like the BNP were last week. Their 92' defeat resulted in some re-thinking, and of course gave as Tony Blair.

The BNP will recover from this, and with a possible new leader they will go on to bigger & better things.

They know the support is there.

Agree with Connor Welcome, Larrysgal.

DP, she's baaaack!

DP - do you not think that people vote BNP as some sort of protest, but if PR came in they would think twice? I voted UKIP as my own protest against the EU, but under PR would not do the same.

Thanks! Is there a Block This Poster option at all? I can't see it.

Larrys, no there isn't, sadly, and if you insult someone directly you'll just have the post deleted...even if you don't, sometimes, it would appear.

but ignoring works for a lot of us

You say that the BNP has 'thrashed' UKIP, how is this, UKUP got 900,000 votes and beat the Greens in many places. Do you happen to know what areas the BNP beat UKIP? where could I find that out, without searching loads of sites. It seems a little strange...although you may be telling the truth.

You can hide threads, larry - in Active conversations, you should see a hide link next to each thread.

sorry UKIP.

LOL Reality, thought it was a bit quick for the OTW to have lit up

Possible protest vote, but the support is growing year on year....by quite remarkable numbers...will give you stats if you like.

No denying they are growing...and PR will be a massive help to them.

No dont search Comp - you might get some virus from some of the pro sites.

PR is very unlikely to happen