Friday 12 March 2010

BNP membership rules still discriminatory

The British National Party's new membership rules are likely to discriminate against non-white people, a judge has ruled. The BNP voted to scrap its whites-only policy after a legal threat from the Equality and Human Rights Commission. A judge at Central London County Court has ruled the party's new constitution is still indirectly discriminatory. The party is expected to comply with the ruling and rewrite its constitution for the 12th time.

















Judge Paul Collins ordered the party to pay costs and said its membership list must remain "closed" until it complied with race relations laws. Delivering his ruling, he said: "I hold that the BNP are likely to commit unlawful acts of discrimination within section 1b Race Relations Act 1976 in the terms on which they are prepared to admit persons to membership under the 12th addition of their constitution."

BNP leader Nick Griffin was met by protests from anti-fascist groups as he arrived at court earlier. Speaking ahead of the hearing, Mr Griffin said: "The constitution was always legal." During a day of legal submissions on Tuesday, the BNP was accused of "indirectly" discriminating against black and Asian people even though the party no longer bars them from joining. The BNP denied the allegations and said it had a "waiting list" of black and Asian people and would welcome more applications from ethnic minorities. The constitution rejected by the court asked members to sign up to the party's principles. These included a duty to oppose the promotion of any form of "integration or assimilation" that impacted on the "indigenous British", and a requirement to support the "maintenance and existence of the unity and integrity of the indigenous British". It also stated that members have to agree to two party officials - one male and one female - visiting their home for up to two hours. A lawyer acting for the Equality and Human Rights Commission said this could be used to enable potential members to be intimidated, although there was no evidence it had been used in that way.

BBC News