BNP Candidate Ejected from St Austell and Newquay Debate

By chris_wasey | Friday, April 30, 2010, 22:10

Although the BNP have not fielded a candidate for the Truro and Falmouth constituency, their party's attempt to gain a seat in Cornwall continues. Earlier this evening, in the neighbouring constituency of St Austell and Newquay, British National Party party representative James Fitton and his supporters were escorted away from The Keay public debate by the police.

Not invited by organisers, PCS (Public and Commercial Services Union) because of their extreme right wing political policies, Mr Fitton made good on his promise to crash the debate. Taking a seat amongst the audience, vocally proclaiming himself as “just another member of the public”, Mr Fitton ignored warnings from the event chair to leave before the authorities arrived.

The candidates waited in the foyer as neither side was willing to budge, but after fifteen minutes the stalemate was broken as the police arrived and requested Mr Fitton leave. After some objection, he left the room but continued arguing with officers, claiming he had been called a “fascist”.

Although mostly popular amongst the people in attendance, none of whom expressed support for BNP policy, there was some discussion as to whether his democratic right to free speech was being infringed. Local resident, Michael Elkington, chose to leave the debate following the exchange between Mr Fitton and police.

He said of this action, “I do not in any way support the BNP. But part of what makes this country great is the right to free expression, and by denying them a platform they garner support, publicity and possibly even credibility. By giving them a chance to discuss their ideas in the open, it is easier to see how ridiculous they really are.

This was the final public debate for the candidates, and was completed without further controversy. The seat, a marginal which has been clearly targeted by both Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, is likely to be closely contested.

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Should the BNP be afforded the same right of formal representation as the other parties? Even if banned from these public events, should the candidates be allowed to attend as audience members? Is this a matter of democratic free speech, or an act of democracy protecting itself from hijack by extremist views?

Have your say.

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Comments

I agree with Georgnia that the BNP supporters should have been allowed to stay but i also think that the BNP candidate should have been allowed to have a say also!
I do not agree with anything that the party stand for but i do believe in equality and freedom of speech for every person living in the UK no matter what their views might be!
i may detest what you say but i will fight to the death for your right to say it!

By loz2010 at 01:30 on 05/05/10
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I agree with Georgnia that the BNP supporters should have been allowed to stay but i also think that the BNP candidate should have been allowed to have a say also!
I do not agree with anything that the party stand for but i do believe in equality and freedom of speech for every person living in the UK no matter what their views might be!
i may detest what you say but i will fight to the death for your right to say it!

By loz2010 at 01:30 on 05/05/10
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Hi SpaceBear.

Thank you for your comments. I'm afraid the formatting can be a bit quirky. If you use the 'write' section for a response, you can still edit after being posted. If you post as a comment, it is not changable.

The site is being updated soon. The front page will be simplified and I expect some of the publishing bumps will be ironed out.

Cheers

By chris_wasey at 15:27 on 04/05/10
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Ugghhh. I'm so sorry. Apparently to paragraph on here you have to break it into separate chunks. A single space doesn't cut it. If a mods around could they sort it out or delete it please and I'll repost.

Thanks.

By SpaceBear at 12:26 on 04/05/10
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So where do we go from here then. Burn Mein Kampf perhaps? Type evolution and racist into google and granted the first link refutes this claim. However both the video links and 7 of the 10 links overall claim the opposite. That in some way 'Darwinism' and the theory of evolution is inherently racist!
Unfortunately politics is not governed by scientific principles and method. Instead we have ambulance chasers, crooks, and the holier than thou groups. If we start allowing some people to be silenced because we find their opinions unsavoury we have to expect at some point to be silenced ourselves.
This is already happening in Britain. No right to protest within a mile of parliament, elderly WW2 survivors thrown out of political party conferences for heckling. Closed magistrate courts and hush ups for police officers who kill innocent civilians. I.D cards, CCTV and a D.N.A database all of which have been shown to be incredibly expensive, but not particularly useful.
There's a reason why people have fought so hard for transparency, democracy, freedom of expression and privacy.

By SpaceBear at 12:24 on 04/05/10
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