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Nottingham Labour leader responds to BNP leaflet criticism

April 28, 2012 10:01 am

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Yesterday we published leaflets produced by Nottingham Labour which urged voters to reject plans for an elected mayor by focussing on the BNP and the EDL. These leaflets received a great deal of criticism.

Councillor Jon Collins, Leader of Nottingham City Council, has responded, telling LabourList:

“A small run of leaflets were produced and intended to highlight the fact that firstly, in Nottingham the BNP is backing a yes vote, but more importantly that in other cities far right candidates have become Mayors, such as Peter Davies in Doncaster (an example we have sighted on previous leaflets to all voters). A Mayoral election would provide a platform never seen before in Nottingham for the BNP and their racist views. It is one of the many reasons we think a Mayor for Nottingham would be a bad for the City, all of which we’ve been explaining to the people of Nottingham in leaflets and on doorsteps. The leaflet was never intended to offend and we simply to attempting to raise awareness.”

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  • Kevin

    A pathetic respose. The reason we need elected mayors is to provide accountability when our local political leaders let us down. Cllr Collins has deeply offended those of us who support mayors, linking our motiations with the BNP and EDL. If he has any decency he will admit this was an error of judgment and resign.

    • Brumanuensis

      And what happens when elected mayors let you down? 

      • Ryan

        We don’t vote for them next time?

  • http://twitter.com/ben_murray Ben Murray

    If we don’t believe in our ability to win an argument, we’re in the wrong game. 

  • Disgruntled

    Doncaster’s mayor is an English Democrat and is a one-off in any number of ways. Just down the road from Nottingham is Leicester, which is led by an excellent elected mayor, Labour’s Sir Peter Soulsby. In London, there are three Labour mayors: Steve Bullock, Sir Robin Wales, Jules Pipe. Jon Collins and his colleagues are being incredibly disrespectful to the voters in Nottingham if he thinks they will be fooled by the far right. In last year’s local elections in Nottingham, 760 people voted BNP across the city. In the same elections, over 112,000 people voted Labour.

    • Dan Filson

      The argument that direction elections has produced some good mayors is weak, as they might and in some cases did rise to being Leader of the Council under the previous system of election by the Labour Group, with or without the helpful prompting of a Local Government Committee where the authority straddles more than one CLP. My objection to the leaflet would be that it gives the oxygen of publicity to what really are very small organisations with little genuine popular support. However the proportion of votes going to extremist parties is unsettling and we now have Europhobic parties assuming a mantle of respectability to issue in more guarded language the same messages as the BNP and EDL, now that the Tory Party has made xenophobia respectable. As to absence of an imprint, is the source of the leaflet in any doubt? But it is a stupid error.

  • Malcolm Armsteen

    It’s also a worry that the person that drafted the leaflet doen’t know the difference between ‘sighted’ and ‘cited’.

    • Malcolm Armsteen

       ’doesn’t', obviously.

      • treborc1

         One should always check one’s spelling when moaning about others, does one not think so.

        • Bill Lockhart

           There’s a big, big difference between hurriedly typing a comment on a conversation thread and sending an edited (and presumably) checked message which contain examples of such basic ignorance as mentioned above.

        • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_ZPXYLRVP4XOIGGDJWAL6HUO7U4 David

          FYI the word “so” is redundant.

    • Brumanuensis

      How do we know he meant ‘cited’? Maybe he did mean ‘sighted’.

  • ThePurpleBooker

    Without any disrespect Mr Collins, you don’t really believe that – do you? How on earth can a Mayoral election promote racism, I’m sorry but that is plain stupid and should not be entertained!

    • Alexwilliamz

      He doesn’t say promote he says provide a platform. Unfortunately the state of political participation in elections outside the general election is very low, which means another political post, which too many will not believe important enough to bother voting over, could be open to strategic attack by more extreme groups, provided there is a small be sufficient base. Whether this is true of Nottingham it is something to consider in terms of the pragmatic issues around elected majors. The bottom line may be what do we gain from mayors vs what risks/problems might they create. It does seem a symbol of the failure of the political system to getting more people to vote, is to have yet another opportunity for people to vote (or no vote as the case may be)!

      • treborc1

        I suspect it will be very difficult to get people out to vote, the last election was a poor turn out for the big three. I have had nothing through the doors, I have seen nothing in  windows and normally the place would be full of the labour party posters but nothing.

        The BBC this morning asked people in Derby will you be voting and the answer was no, then asked who is in power in Derby lots said no idea or labour, when told it was a coalition between the Tories and Liberal people said who cares.

        Out came they are all the same, and to be honest it how I see it.

  • Mike Homfray

    Elected mayors are a mistake and I can only hope that this campaign proves successful. Once boss politics has been introduced councillors become redundant and we may as well pack up and go home. New Labour made an utter hash of local government – the cabinet system us only marginally better

  • Chilbaldi

    Let’s not have democracy because the wrong person *might* win. That’s brilliant, just priceless. What an argument.

  • stuffie101

    so what if the bnp get a mayor, it sounds like labour vote won’t come out unless they scare them with lies.
    i heard margret hodge tell a load of stupid africans that the bnp was going throw them from helicopters into the sea!
    can you believe that? they did  ahahahaha

  • AlanGiles

    Tuesday 0645: Not Nottingham I grant you, but over on Merseyside:

    http://uk.news.yahoo.com/bnp-candidate-vote-fraud-quiz-053424264.html 

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