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

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!

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/scotland/article6905279.ece

Mainstream parties say that Nick Griffin’s appearance on Question Time has raised the BNP’s profile.
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The mainstream political parties are increasingly worried that British National Party could achieve a political breakthrough in Scotland in next week’s byelection.
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Some privately believe that the BNP stands a chance of winning third place in Glasgow North East, ahead of the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats, or, at best, save its deposit — something the party has never achieved in an election in Scotland.
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In the European elections in June the BNP won 545 votes in Glasgow North East — 4.4 per cent of the overall vote on a 21.5 per cent turn out. To save its deposit on Thursday, the BNP needs to achieve 5 per cent. If the turn-out in Glasgow North East is around the predicted 40 per cent, the BNP would require only 1,200 votes to reach that target.
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The main parties believe that the BNP’s campaign was boosted by the appearance of Nick Griffin, the BNP’s leader, on Question Time last month. They also say that the BNP is feeding off voter antipathy created by the MPs expenses scandal
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Allied to that, Glasgow North East is the only Scottish constituency with a relatively high number of asylum seekers. Ten years ago the city decided to take part in the Home Office’s asylum seeker dispersal programme and many of the several thousand asylum seekers who were sent to Glasgow ended up in the constituency’s notorious Red Road towers.
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Asylum seekers say they regularly face accusations that they are given preferential treatment over local families when it comes to housing allocations.
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Labour MPs out canvassing in the constituency say that they have come across growing support for the BNP among voters.
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“It’s not just in these places where you would expect it but among some of the better-off people as well. I’m worried that the BNP could cause a real shock here,” said one.
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Another was concerned that the BNP could achieve 10 per cent of the vote, although his colleagues disputed that support was as high as that.
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Professor John Curtice, Britain’s most respected polling analyst, said: “You would have to say that this is potentially the best place in Scotland for the BNP.
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“The social profile in Glasgow North East means it is the kind of area where the BNP tend to do well throughout the UK. But you do not expect them to do as well in Scotland as they would do in the same social situation down south.”
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He said that the chances of the BNP coming third were slim. For it to do so would mean that support for parties other than Labour and the SNP had totally collapsed.
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The BNP candidate in the byelection is Charlie Baillie, a long-time member of the party. “The message is that the BNP is opposed to the dispersal policy enacted by the city council. We are opposed to mass immigration and we seek an immediate return for bogus asylum seekers,” he said.
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With the byelection campaign now in its final lap, the Labour candidate, Willie Bain, appears increasingly confident of holding off a strong challenge from the SNP and avoiding a repeat of Glasgow East byelection last year, when the SNP overcame a 13,000 Labour majority.
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Political observers say that the SNP campaign has failed to develop any real momentum.
Labour has made great play of the SNP government’s recent decision to cancel a rail link project from Glasgow to the city’s airport. The SNP has tried to hit back by reminding voters that they have been electing Labour representatives at all levels of government for the past 74 years but that the constituency still remains one of the poorest in the UK.
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The byelection was triggered by the decision of the former Commons speaker, Michael Martin, now Lord Martin of Springburn, to stand down in June as the MP for Glasgow North East in the wake of the expenses scandal.
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Both the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives, which will also be fighting to save their deposits, did not contest the seat at the General Election in 2005, observing the Westminster tradition that the Speaker is not opposed.
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My information to date, which includes a very good estimate of the votes already cast via the postal votes, is that third place and a stunning shocker is ………..possible, very possible!

Lets not disapoint them! Every member who can get to Glasgow over the next week please contact 07827811008 or 07717774730