The first Scottish office meeting of 2010 for all organisers and officials is being held this Saturday where BNP Councilor Paul Golding will provide a special General Election local fundraising presentation. This year is an important stepping stone to BNP Scotland winning a regional list seat at Holyrood in 2011. Januarys issue of our newsletter ‘The Bugle’ will include an A4 appeal for funds and another A4 separate appeal for candidates, the mailing to 232 enquirers will also include a membership form – or instructions as to how to become a member. A total of 740 copies will be sent out, another significant rise in the numbers receiving our quarterly publication.

Candidates for the general election have started to be appointed and we hope to have up to 23 in place by polling day. To make this a reality we need to raise funds and we need committed members to step forward and put their names in the hat. We must give the people of Scotland the chance to vote BNP in every region we can, especially the Central region where we came so close to beating the Conservative candidate to win third place in the recent Glasgow by-election sending shock waves through the establishment. Our percentage of the votes in the last few years has steadily grown and we are now on course to gain the 5-6% needed to win a regional list seat in 2011, standing candidates in every Central seat this year will confirm our support.

If you would like to be considered for a candidate please contact Scotland@bnp.org.uk Your party and your country needs you!

We are now feeling the result of having a one issue executive at Holyrood with little experience of government. The SNP populist giveaway budgets now mean millions of pounds which could have been available for essential services have been frittered away.
The freezing of council tax alone will cost in excess of £200million next year. If the council tax had been allowed to rise by 3% a year it would of cost on average 75p per week. This money could have been used to maintain education and social services that councils are now cutting.
Abolishing prescription charges and tolls on bridges can hardly be justified at the expense of basic health, education and social services.
The latest SNP proposal to spend millions on a unwanted referendum shows how out of touch Mr Salmond has become, as does the SNP led Aberdeen councils proposal to close three primary schools to save £147,000 per year while in the next breath considering prescribing heroin to the city’s addicts.
The estimated cost of this is approx £15,000 per year per addict. With an estimated addict population of 3,000 in Aberdeen this idiocy would cost approx £4.5million per year.
A lack of common sense and foresight by the ‘independence at any cost’ SNP will see the one issue party become a one term party in 2011 as the people wake up to the reality of these false nationalists.

The following letter was published in the Daily Mail and is of special interest as it was written by someone who spent time on the campaign trail recently.

“I’m not racist, but…” that’s what I heard on the streets of Glasgow North East, time and time again. As the dust settles, activists in the main parties should consider the wider implications.
The BNP came within a few dozen votes of pushing the Tories into forth place and became the new home for angry and disillusioned voters rather than Solidarity, the Scottish Socialist Party and the Liberal Democrats’
Many voters were disillusioned with mainstream politicians. “Politicians? There all the same,” they all told me.
I found an increasing number of traditional non-voters were going to vote BNP. ” Someone needs to grab this country by the scruff of the neck,” was a common feeling.
If the main parties continue to be seen as indifferent or ineffective, then the BNP will continue making inroads in Scotland.
When voters ask why their children can’t get a council or housing association tenancy, the answer “they aren’t priority status” is remembered.
When gangs roam the streets and drug dealers ply their trade with little, if any, interference from the police, voters know who really calls the shots. People have had enough.
Alex Salmond has made much of Westminster dancing to a Scottish tune after next’s years General Election.
If I were him, I would be more concerned about the BNP holding the balance of power in Holyrood after the next Scottish Parliamentary elections in 2011.

MEV BROWN, Independent candidate in the Glasgow North east by-election, Currie, Midlothian.

All I will say is I promise that I will work night and day to make this a reality! We will deliver a BNP MSP in 2011 and nothing will stand in our way.

Gary Raikes

BNP Scotland are now in reach of winning a seat in Holyrood, that is if the usual suspects don’t change the voting system by 2011. This reflects the hard work that has been done over the last two years that has resulted in doubling our membership and increasing our vote to with in a whisker of saving our deposit for the first time ever in Scotland

Another five members have stood up to the mark and are in the process of being appointed Local Authority Organisers which will add Dundee, Fife, North lanarkshire, Highlands and Clackmannanshire to the ten organisers already appointed which means a leap from three groups two years ago, to fifteen now!

Issue three of our Scottish news letter ‘The Bugle’ will be going out in January to every member helping to keep all up to date with our progress and our official web site www.scotland.bnp.org.uk will spread news further a field!

It has not all been plain sailing, steering the good ship BNP never is, but we are in the best shape we ever have been and moving rapidly ahead. Our target now is 2010 when we aim to stand 23 candidates across Scotland, every group must now start raising funds and appoint candidates, some have already done so but every group has to start campaigning now, paper sales and leafleting events held by every one of our 15 groups will ensure the BNP’s message of hope starts to reach the Scottish people on a unprecedented scale!

We’re glad to report that the British National Party has pulled off our best-ever result in a parliamentary election in Scotland, demonstrating just how far we have come in a very short time and the extent to which the party is now perceived as a credible, mainstream contender by increasing numbers of voters.

There was no surprise about the top two positions at the Glasgow North East by-election on Thursday 12 November 2009, but the entire story of the contest was the battle for third place.

For our party to even be fighting over third place at this early stage in our Scottish growth is astonishing. Three years ago we wouldn’t even have placed in the top six. Now we’re fighting for third. It just demonstrates the potential out there.

For our readers in England, remember that this result is even more remarkable given that we have four, not three, Westminster parties up here.

When we consider what we were up against, we really have done remarkably well.

Let’s reconsider our seven stated aims at this by-election, which we published in our article on the BNP website on 9th November, here.

Our first aim, to beat all the extreme left-wing parties was achieved, in spades. In fact, we beat the combined vote of Solidarity, SSP and Socialist Labour, added together. So, aim achieved.

The second aim, to get in the top six. Achieved.

The third aim, to beat one of the following: the Greens, Conservatives or the Lib Dems, who on past outings have come above us. Well, we tanked the Greens, and that is so necessary if we are to stand a chance of getting our candidate elected on the Holyrood PR ballot in 2011 or more probably 2015. Achieved.

The fourth aim, to come in the top five. Achieved.

The fifth aim, to beat any two of the Greens, Conservatives or Liberal Democrats. Well, we also tanked the Lib Dems. Achieved.

We said that if we achieved any one of our seven aims then we would have done extremely well in the first by-election that the BNP has ever contested in Scotland.

Fact is, we achieved five of our seven aims, failing only to save our deposit (by 17 votes) and come third, which would have needed an additional 63 votes.

So we came fourth, but consider what we are up against.

The Conservative Party is a multi-million pound machine. It has virtually unlimited access to finance from the City. We had access to exactly £890.34 which we raised at our fundraiser on 27th October.

The Conservative Party has a big team of well-paid, full-time employees in Scotland who are dedicated full-time to winning elections for their party. We had a small band of hard-pressed men and women, squeezing in activism when they could get time off their work.

And then there is the full-spectrum dominance of the Conservative Party, and the other Westminster parties, on our national mass media. We can’t escape seeing them or listening to them in the papers, the TV and the radio, every day, 24/7/365. Yet they have the cheek to complain because Question Time hosted Nick Griffin … once.

Yet still we pushed the Tories to the wire. Indeed, the entire story of last night’s election on TV was whether we were going to take third place from them or not.

Furthermore, all the four Westminster parties had privileged access to the national mass media. They were invited onto radio hustings. We weren’t. They were in the Scottish press every day. We weren’t. They received invites to all the hustings meetings in the constituency. We received not one.

Yet still we tanked the Lib Dems, taking over twice its vote.

We’ve also learned many valuable lessons in this campaign. These lessons are being recorded right now. We know several areas where we need to improve, and we’ll be rolling out this best practice for all our teams during the General Election next year.

Talking of which, we are launching the biggest-ever campaign in Scotland for next year. We have identified 23 seats and we aim to contest them all. That makes a difference from the 2005 General Election when we contested two.

As our candidate, Charlie Baillie, said at the count, this election has established us as a credible alternative in Scotland.

Incidentally, while all the candidates lined up on stage for the announcement of the result, they all, like ill-mannered peasants, left the stage when Mr Baillie walked forward to speak. By so doing they were demonstrating their sneering contempt for the 1,013 good people of Glasgow North East who voted for the BNP, as well as their contempt for the democratic process.

Let us leave the final word to Mr Baillie who told this website: “I’d like to thank all the activists from Glasgow, and the others who travelled far distances to be with us, and without whose help this result would not have been possible. I’d especially like to thank our Chairman Nick Griffin for visiting Glasgow twice. His tremendous popularity really helped us deliver this result. Thank you, Nick. To the 1,013 people of Glasgow North East, thank you.”

Now please take the next step. Please register your interest on this website. We want to meet you and speak with you. We need your help.

If you can help BNP Scotland at the General Election — we are looking for candidates, activists and people who can help pay for the £500 deposit in each constituency — please contact Scottish Regional Organiser Gary Raikes at Scotland @ bnp.org.uk with your full name and address, or send a letter to PO Box 11815, Turriff, AB53 8WB.

And remember you can help us do all these things, and more, without even being a member!