STOKE-ON-TRENT – British National Party (BNP) leader Nick Griffin launched the party’s election manifesto yesterday, and declared that the document was a “serious piece of political kit”.
The 90-page BNP manifesto, entitled Democracy, Freedom, Culture and Identity, was unveiled in Stoke-on-Trent, where protesters staged a noisy demonstration against the right-wing party.
Mr Griffin, who is standing for election in Barking, east London, said the manifesto offered “nothing new” on the subject of immigration.
“The media are fixated on immigration. The media needn’t go scurrying away looking for new things we’re going to say on immigration because, while the other parties have now decided to talk about it because of the British National Party threat, we still say what we have always done,” he said. “We say Britain is full. It is the most overcrowded country in Europe, and it is time to shut the doors.”
Speaking at the Stoke-on-Trent civic centre, Mr Griffin said of the manifesto: “It’s comprehensive, it’s realistic, it’s popular . . . and we hope that the media will cover it fairly.”
Speaking directly to gathered reporters, he added: “Frankly, if you don’t, we’re not particularly fussed because we don’t need you.
“We don’t need the media now we can speak directly to the British people, and we speak for the British people.”
He said the central pledge of the manifesto was to pull British troops out of Afghanistan immediately, alongside a commitment to rebuild British manufacturing.
Defending the party’s pledge to introduce the death penalty for drug dealers, serial killers, child murderers and terrorists, Mr Griffin said: “We are the party that believes that criminals basically are scum and that victims should be protected.
“All the others see a criminal [and] they see a victim of society, but we believe there should be tough and effective punishments and deterrents for criminals.
“It’s not just a matter of making them better, it’s also a matter of frightening the life out of them so others don’t become criminal.
“That said, we actually agree with [Liberal Democrats leader] Nick Clegg on one thing – that people shouldn’t be in prison. His solution is to let them out into the community to burgle and mug people, and rape people. Our solution is to put them into work teams, electronically tagged, and make them work.” – (PA)