PARTIES URGED TO CLARIFY POSITION OVER BNP PLATFORM STANCE

PARTIES URGED TO CLARIFY POSITION OVER BNP PLATFORM STANCE,

HUGE BLUNDER BY BBC,

Opposition parties in Scotland have been asked to restate their previously united stance against sharing a platform with the BNP following the appearance of Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat representatives alongside BNP leader Nick Griffin on Question Time last week. SNP Westminster leader Angus Robertson MP said: “The BBC has major questions to answer over giving the BNP disgraceful and wholly unwarranted prime time publicity. And opposition parties in Scotland also need to confirm whether they still stand by their previous stance, recently reaffirmed in the European election, of not sharing a platform with a racist party. “The mainstream parties in Scotland have had a long established stance against sharing a platform, and this was reaffirmed at the European elections in the summer. “The fact is that the BNP do not have a single councillor or any other elected representative in the whole of Scotland, have never saved their deposit in an election, and they secured a derisory vote in this year’s European election. The latest poll figures put them at zero and 1 per cent north of the Border. BNP membership figures show them to be virtually invisible in Scotland. Yet Scottish viewers and listeners have been overwhelmed with coverage of the BNP’s spiteful message on our national broadcaster, in what was a huge blunder by the BBC. “The SNP position remains the same – we will not share a platform with this racist party. But as we approach the General Election, all parties in Scotland must now say where they stand.”