Pendle Local Election Results

[Mitch]

No surprises with Lib Dem fireman win in Cloverhill.

If you need any more evidence of the link between BNP increases and the utter misery created by Labour Party policies then look to the Pendle results.

Marsden perhaps has a little in common with what happened in Cliviger in Burnley - it's a wealthier Pendle ward - rural and right on the edge of Pendle. These are middle class voters here in Marsden voting BNP.

In Cloverhill the BNP ran a woman - Helen Jane Mulligan (note the Irish roots - she obviously doesn't know her own history in this area, and the terrible racism against Irish workers in the late 19th Century!!) Her leaflet was a scatty affair - foul in it's racism on asylum seekers and she doesn't live in Nelson, she lives in Colne!! Yet she managed to increase the BNP vote in this ward - Cloverhill, although a clear win for the Lib dem fireman Roy in Cloverhill as I knew would happen.

In these two wards - Cloverhill & Marsden - where the BNP ran there are clear links to protests against Labour policy - Dorothy Ormrod (Labour/Co-operative Party) was beaten by Parker (BNP)in Marsden ward. Dorothy Ormrod is a well known Labour/Co-operative Party Councillor of many years.

In Cloverhill, Colin Waite (Labour/been around for many years) received less votes than BNP Mulligan, and despite a widely distributed leaflet by the churches encouraging voters to reject the racist and divisive poilitics of the BNP.

A sorry affair indeed, and evidence to me that by doing more things for ourselves on a local level we'll do a lot better.

Might I suggest also that the grassroots of the co-operative party disassociate themselves forthwith from the Labour Party, and start getting back to what they've done best historically in this area - which is focusing on co-operative values and principles - and I mean on the streets, not just a token Fair Trade stall at a twee event. Where are their heads, I ask you?

Full results here:
www.pendle.gov.uk/site/scripts/documents_info.php?categoryID=524&documentID=286

We've a lot to do to see off the BNP in Pendle, but by coming together, doing more for ourselves and raising awareness of the foul racist message beneath their populist veneer of the BNP as well as pointing out the links between the uselessness of the official parties which open the door to the BNP we can do much.

Best Mitch (I don't vote for any of this circus, but I'm having a sad day thinking about all this - a sorry state of affairs)

[michele cryer]

Thanks for this post Mitch. My friend in Vivary Way is counting his lucky stars that the BNP didn't get in there this time...I'm not sure of the results elsewhere in Burnley and Pendle, however the number of pro-bnp comments I heard running up to the election didn't make it much of a surprise to me that they still managed to gain seats in some wards...as sad as that may be, there's a lot of people out there being fooled!!!

[Mitch]

admin said:

Thanks for this post Mitch. My friend in Vivary Way is counting his lucky stars that the BNP didn't get in there this time...I'm not sure of the results elsewhere in Burnley and Pendle, however the number of pro-bnp comments I heard running up to the election didn't make it much of a surprise to me that they still managed to gain seats in some wards...as sad as that may be, there's a lot of people out there being fooled!!!

I know what you mean - people are getting 'cocky with it' - it's one of the effects - the racism was their but the BNP's rising profile is raising the confidence of racists. I reckon I'm more sheltered from it that you, Cotty and others as I'm working from home (talking to me cats during the day! ;D\) so don't have to put up with it - but I remember it from temping and working in Burnley 5 years ago - it was bad then, but it's getting worse.

Cotty comes home from work most days with a story or two - of how he's taken the piss out of a racist comment.

One guy said to him he'd voted Labour in his ward because the only white person running was Labour - how sick is that!!

I think it's a mix - some are being fooled, with many still not aware of the real racist hate message at the heart of the BNP, but others are well aware of it - they know what they are voting for. BNP candidate Mulligan's leaflet in Clover Hill was clear in it's racist message against asylum seekers and sinister message of promoting 'our' culture with St Georges' Day and not 'wasting money' on 'Melas and other minority events' - this was on her leaflet, this was what many in our ward Clover Hill voted for - don't reckon we should romanticise the problem because the BNP are getting cockier on their leaflets with the racist hatred- people read it, they know what they stand for.

We have a problem in Clover Hill with rising support for the BNP, and Marsden next door now with 1 BNP councillor.

But fighting back against racism, division and isolation - all of which are what the BNP bring us more of starts I think with building small networks where we are doing more for ourselves, breaking the isolation - and we are doing that are we not.

The BNP want to divide us, and then control us - we need to be working hard to create bottom up alternatives, and build confidence. It'll be a hard slog, but like I said above Labour policies are pushing people towards the BNP - there are links, and indeed the fascists serve the interests to some extent of the official political parties.

Down with fascists and racists.
Down with useless local government.

Hooray for doing more for ourselves!

(Fred's article in the latest Northern Voices is well worth a read on the above points - making the links again between years of Labour neglect and the rise of the BNP.

For a copy email: [e-mail] or contact Northern Voices, Springbank, Hebden Bridge, HX7 7AA.
Cheques payable to 'Northern Voices' . £3.50 for two issues/post free).

[michele cryer]

Hiya Mitch...

Thanks for the above...I commend Cotty for standing up to the racist comments that he encounters, I do tend to err on the side of caution, playing the 'there's good and bad on all sides and in all races etc.' card, but I'm sure it mainly falls on deaf ears...it is a sad, sad situation (to quote my old friend Elton), but yes, as you say, we are starting to try to pull ourselves together and pull the community together also, stand up for what's right and good.

I suppose it's difficult for me to face up to the reality of the situation here in Clover hill, it feels more comfortable to believe that people are just being fooled instead of really wanting these racists in power, never mind, my eyes are wide open now, just hope we can help each other!!

[Mitch]

Some of it will be protests against Labour - I know people who have told me they'd voted for Colin Waite for years, but they were not doing this year!

What got me in Clover Hill was that no-one knows Muligan (BNP) candidate - she lives in Colne. And that's not usual in this ward - cause many people vote for someone they know well like David Foster or like Julie said - Roy (Lib) who she knows - they vote for someone local.

But a fair few voted for Mulligan on the values in her leaflet - they don't know her for local community work etc.

What worries me now is that they are getting in (in Marsden) or beating Labour/Colin Waite a well know local councillor (in Clover Hill), on blatent racist/fascist values - they are dropping the veneer of 'we're about local issues' - no doubt the next step in their foul strategy along with their Solidarity Union.

These are just things I've thought based on speaking to people locally though - I don't have all the answers - I've a lot more to learn, but I know that local councillors (the official political parties), an exasperating Searchlight which promotes Labour policies which are part of the problem and you know my thoughts on UAF etc. and indeed the local churches - they do not criticise the bigger picture - the disappearing jobs, the drugs, rising alcholism, and where people's desperation comes from, in other words they do not attack what facilitates the growth of the BNP in areas like ours. They talk down to people - they preach.

I've more hope in yourself and Cotty fighting racism and fascism round here - as you are about building confidence, bringing dissaffected people together - those that are in the thick of it have the best ideas about how to fight the BNP.

You know Searchlight were targetting this area with phone calls, did you get one. This stupid woman on the phone says to me you must not vote BNP because studies show that areas with BNP councillors face businesses leaving the area. When I told her that they'd already left, and that a factory was pretty much closing every month in Nelson she went mute. I also told her I'd be fighting fascism in the area in my own way - and that this was everyday, and that I'd no intention of voting of any of the circus - goodbye.! ;D

Fighting the BNP means criticising what facilitates their growth as well as their foul fascist message - that's not an easy road, but I'll take it anywise.

But hey, no-one said anarchism was an easy road. ;D

[michele cryer]

Hehehe Mitch...no I didn't get one of those phone calls, or didn't pick it up if I did. Well done for standing up for your anarchist rights!!

I agree with your comments regarding the way in which the UAF, churches and local governments try to deal with the problem of voters choosing the BNP, yet not looking at the whole picture of why they're becoming so popular...

Thanks again for having confidence in the methods of people like me and Cotty, and yourself and others too, of course!!! ;D

[Mitch]

Yeah, but don't you think I'm beginning to sound like an opinionated twat??

I'm going to shoot myself now - alternatively I think I'll have another beer.

raaaaaaa bang. tara ;D

(PS. I've just spoken to someone very important on the phone and was rather giggly!) whoops

[michele cryer]

Hehehe....russian roulette night is it, Mitch? ;D