What we can learn from Hope not Hate in juxtaposing far-right policy with reality

By Dan Whittle

Tonight’s performance on Question Time will no doubt show again that the BNP is a party willing to continue to soften its image, to conceal its racism, to do anything to appeal to a broader section of the electorate.

Part of the way for us to beat it, is to challenge the BNP’s sour version of British “identity”. We need to learn from the Hope Not Hate campaign, which showed that BNP policies conflict with British values and traditions.

The BNP want to shut down the discussion on identity – we need to open it up, and unashamedly put forward an alternative progressive British identity.

Paul Richards, writing for LabourList, told us to remember stories of the Levellers, Chartists, Luddites, Blanketeers, and other forces which emerged from the working classes, and told the story of England’s radicalism, long before the Labour Party was a twinkle in Keir Hardie‘s eye.

In a New Statesman article, Tristram Hunt called for us to celebrate:

“the culture of patriotism that produced the meritocracy of the Open University; the mutualism of the co-operative movement; the civic pride of the great town halls; the environmentalism of the national parks; the solidarity of May Day (in its radical and socialist form); the internationalism of the anti-apartheid movement; the philanthropy of Toynbee Hall.”

One fifth of BNP voters claim to be union members, so unions should be at the forefront of putting forward a new progressive identity, drawing from their rich history and using their organisational capactity to promote it.

Alongside this we need to undermine the BNP’s twisted version of Britishness, one based on loss and grievance.

We can learn from how Hope Not Hate presented the electorate with the juxtoposition of a BNP policy, and the British institution or value it opposed: Hope Not Hate highlighted how BNP repatriation policy undermines the NHS; they produced figures showing that 16% of nurses are from minority ethnic communities, as are 40% of new dentists and 58% of new doctors. Health Ministers should have highlighted this with the same intensity as they fought US Republican lies about the NHS.

To re-engage the floating BNP voter, Labour has of course to meticulously address the material concerns of housing, jobs and community. But it also has be the defender of the right of people to express their British identity, and should be ready to attack those – like the BNP – who seek to impose a divisive version of Britishness.