BNP calls for stop to Muslim immigration

Published on Friday 23 April 2010 23:27

THE British National Party (BNP) is calling for an end to immigration from Muslim nations, saying this presents a "deadly threat" to the UK.

The pledge is contained in the party's election manifesto, launched yesterday by party leader Nick Griffin in Stoke.

The BNP also plans to give grants to encourage some UK residents to return to "their lands of ethnic origin".

The party recently changed its whites-only membership policy after it was ruled unlawful by the courts.

Opponents say they are extreme and their policies divisive.

The 90-page manifesto, entitled "Democracy, Freedom, Culture And Identity", was unveiled in Stoke-on-Trent, where protesters staged a noisy demonstration against the party.

Mr Griffin, who is standing for election in Barking, east London, said the manifesto offered "nothing new" on the subject of immigration, adding: "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.

"We say Britain is full. It is the most overcrowded country in Europe and it is time to shut the doors."

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."

He said the central pledge of the manifesto was to pull British troops out of Afghanistan immediately, alongside a commitment to rebuilding 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, 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."

Mr Griffin, who was accompanied by his wife, Jackie, said the BNP would also establish a "penal station" in the remote South Georgia islands, south-east of Argentina, for dangerous and violent repeat offenders.