BNP success is concerning (From Times Series)

BNP success is concerning

5:38pm Thursday 8th May 2008 in

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While the results of the recent elections in London and around the country were excellent for the Conservatives, the success of the BNP in certain areas - relatively small but significant - leaves a sour taste.

I have always felt that voting in Barnet's Hale Ward is a fair reflection of public feeling in the country as a whole. The fact that around five per cent of those who voted in the Hale by-election supported a party that espouses such extremist policies is obviously a cause for some concern.

It is to be hoped that this was little more than a one-off expression of mid-term frustration with an incompetent Government, which will revert to more conventional voting at the next council and General Elections.

The acquisition by the BNP of a seat in the London Assembly is arguably an indictment of the proportional representation system of voting. Apart from the confusion the system causes within the electorate and the impersonal nature of voting for a party rather than an individual, it can result in undesirable fringe groups gaining inappropriate influence.

The constituency system is far safer and decisive and I would advocate that this be applied to all London Assembly seats at future elections.

Councillor Brian Gordon, Conservative, Hale Ward