FOUR Co-op MPs are among dozens of Parliamentarians, trade union leaders, newspaper editors and religious leaders backing a campaign to expose and marginalise the far right British National Party in advance of next month's European and local elections.
The new Unite Against Facism organisation is holding a national day of action against the BNP on Sunday June 6th – four days before the country goes to the polls in the biggest test of opinion before the general election – and is calling for the support of everyone who wants to stop the fascists increasing their share of the vote, either as a result of low turn-out or by persuading voters of their so-called ?democratic' credentials.
The four Co-op MP's who have so far signed the UAF statement on the threat posed by the extremist BNP are Ken Purchase (Wolverhampton North East), Angela Smith (Basildon), Louise Ellman (Liverpool Riverside and Adrian Bailey (West Bromwich West).
Among the other leading politicians supporting UAF are Leader of the House Peter Hain, senior Conservative MP Sir Teddy Taylor and Ulster Unionist Martin Smyth.
TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber plus 21 trade union general secretaries – including Usdaw's Sir Bill Connor – are also lending their support.
UAF, who say they are trying to unite the "broadest possible spectrum of UK society" against the BNP, point out that in recent local councilby-elections the party has averaged 20 per cent of the vote in the wards they contested.
The anti-fascist group is also organising a free Unity Festival at Castlefield, Manchester, on Sunday May 30th and further information on all the organisation's events and campaigns can be found at www.uaf.org.uk
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