The London Daily News

UPDATE 9:30PM GMT 18/5/09:

The poll referred to in this article has been removed due to a clear attempt by a political group to sway the results.  -

EDITORIAL TEAM LONDON DAILY NEWS

News Desk

The far-right British National Party is projected in a London Daily News poll to gain around 30 per cent of the vote in London which would result in up to 2-3 MEPs in the capital, and 7-8 MEPs nationally.

Conservative activists who have been canvassing aggressively the last weeks have been reporting a "stark increase" in BNP support on the doorsteps alarming many Tory grandees that the right wing of politics is being hijacked by the far right BNP.

The scandal over MPs expenses has eclipsed any concerns over immigration in the capital according to canvassers from the main political parties, and a "political meltdown" for the main political groups could take place on June 4, if voters do not turn out.

The London Daily News poll of 4433 votes shows the following:

Labour :                      7.76% (345)      
Conservative :          41.79% (1857)     
Liberal Democrat :     13.46% (598)     
Green :                         1.91% (85)     
BNP :                          29.91% (1329)     
UKIP :                          2.72% (121)     
Other :                         2.45% (109)     
     
If the BNP was to win the projected 7 seats nationally according to reports, it would lead a "European nationalists" block in the European Parliament led by BNP leader Nick Griffiths, with the group being entitled to £5 million in political funding from the EU.

The following days will see a concerted campaign by the main political parties to undermine the efforts of the BNP with an attempt to dissuade voters to "waste their vote" by voting for the BNP.  Labour has already started a "Stop the BNP" leaflet which is being distributed to local parties nationally.  

The Daily Telegraph ran a story that most of the BNPs new support is from disgruntled Labour voters:

"The Labour Party used to stand for what we believe in. Now, no way. It's not just immigration that has changed; it's our way of life. We're becoming a Third World country in Europe with no influence, no power and the people not knowing anything about their own history."

Sources within the Conservative hierarchy are "so concerned" by the BNP that publicly they do not even refer to it, and just refer to the BNP as "that evil party".

The European Parliamentary elections June 4 will be run with a proportional representation method.