Labour Divided on Election Strategy in Burnley

Burnley Labour Party is split down the middle over the best way to meet the challenge from the British National Party in this May's local elections. That's according to a respected local political pundit and 'Burnley Labour Party Observer' boasting 15 years of inside knowledge.

"The two camps are divided on virtually everything. One faction is pushing what they call the 'local' line, while the other wants to follow advice from Warrington," he told 'Burnley Bravepages'.
"The local camp wants to ignore the BNP and get on with putting a positive spin on the recent achievements of Labour councillors, while the Warrington camp wants to attack the BNP and dissaude people from voting for them."

In November last year for the council by-elections, the Warrington faction - named after Labour's Regional HQ - won the day and there was an all out assault on the British National Party. When the BNP failed to win any of the three wards they were contesting, these tactics were heralded as a success. But under closer inspection the strategy might not have been that influential.

In Lowerhouse ward, the Labour Party distributed a huge glossy leaflet attacking the BNP. It also called upon the voters of Lowerhouse to come out and vote for any party they liked, but not for the BNP. Well, two out of three voters didn't respond to Labour's call and stayed at home, and of those that did vote, 23.5% voted for Carol Hughes the BNP candidate. On top of this the Labour candidate was beaten into second place and only polled 138 votes more than the BNP.

The 'local' faction want to heed the advice of Stuart Caddy's chums at Prophecy Public Relations (PPR), the firm asked by the Task Force to monitor the local media's role in last summer's riots.

PPR advise a total blackout on mentioning the BNP. Their analysis suggests,
"Frequent references to the BNP has the effect of actually creating a platform for them. Even condemnation can have the undesired effect of actually raising their profile."

Totally unphased by the arguments at the local Labour Party, is Burnley and Pendle BNP Election Agent, Simon Bennett. At the BNP's campaign rooms in the town he looked over a copy of Lowerhouse Rose, the glossy smear sheet distributed by the Labour Party last November.
"Despite one of these going through everyone's letterbox, the actual result showed what little effect it had on voters," he said,
"The attack on the BNP was just not relevant. They showed a photograph of anonymous football thugs making anti-social gestures and said, 'this is the BNP'. So when our candidate, Carol Hughes, who is a real 'Lowerhouse Rose', was out canvassing and asking for support, people just couldn't equate the two. The BNP in reality was a charming, hard-working mother, articulating policies close to the heart of Burnley people. Labour's BNP was proved to be a lie. I expect people thought that if they are lying about this, what's not to say everything else in this leaflet is a lie."

The 'Burnley Labour Party Observer' wouldn't be drawn on the outcome of the strategy battle, but predicted that the wounds from the conflict went deep and that disagreement over the BNP was only one of a number of disputes.
"The outcome of the most divisive debate could cause a political earthquake in the town from which Burnley Labour Party might never recover," was his passing shot.

Our political pundit refused to elaborate further, and only offered a wry smile when 'Burnley Bravepages' asked whether this "most divisive debate" was over who was to succeed MP Peter Pike.






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