John D. Wadham, chief legal officer of the Equality and Human Rights Commission of the United Kingdom, wrote to Nick Griffin, the Chairman of the British National Party (BNP), a detailed letter last week (June 22, 2009) expressing the Commission's view that the BNP's conduct and activities might be in breach of several provisions of the Race Relations Act of 1976, and demanded the BNP make certain undertakings as stipulated in his letter.
A fairly large segment of the British population is of Pakistani lineage. The growing influence of the BNP cannot be treated as somebody else's problem. It affects everybody not only in the UK, but also in Pakistan and beyond.
The Commission was established under the Equality Act of 2006 and Wadham says it has "a statutory duty (by virtue of Section 8 of the Equality Act 2006) to encourage good practice in relation to equality and diversity, to enforce the equality enactments and to work towards the elimination of unlawful discrimination."
The Commission monitors, from time to time, the actions and statements of political parties in order to assess whether their constitutions or activities may breach equality law. He says that preventing discrimination by political parties is a duty of the Commission itself. The Commission thinks that the BNP may be failing to comply with the Race Relations Act 1976, in several respects, relating to:
1. The BNP's constitution and membership criteria;
2. The BNP's recruitment and employment policies, practices and procedures; and
3. The provision of services by elected officers to their constituents and/or members of the public.
Wadham explains the thinking behind why the BNP "may be failing to comply with the Race Relations Act 1976" as follows:
1. CONSTITUTION AND MEMBERSHIP CRITERIA
The BNP's constitution and membership criteria discriminate on racial grounds against individuals who do not fall within the membership criteria as specified in the BNP constitution. The criteria restrict membership to those within what the BNP regards as particular "ethnic groups", and in any event restrict membership to those whose skin colour is white.
In addition to the written constitution, the publication of an article on the BNP official website entitled "Is the BNP racist?" which refers to "the fact that the BNP has an all white membership". The exclusion from membership of individuals whose ethnic origin is not listed constitutes unlawful discrimination on racial grounds contrary to Section 25 of Race Relations Act 1976.
It is also unlawful for anyone to advertise unlawful membership criteria by virtue of section 29 of the Race Relations Act. Wadham explains to Griffin that "As a political party with elected representatives providing leadership within Britain, you will appreciate the importance of the BNP operating a lawful membership policy that complies both on paper and in practice with the Act."
On the basis of the current constitution and membership criteria, Wadham writes that "the BNP may have committed and may be likely to commit future unlawful acts."
2. RECRUITMENT AND EMPLOYMENT POLICIES, PRACTICES AND PROCEDURES
The BNP is "looking to recruit professional people in a number of areas" according to the careers information on the BNP's website, and the membership criteria also used in the BNP's standard employment application form, in that it asks job applicants to supply a membership number. Since there does not appear to be any open advertisement of posts, recruitment and employment opportunities may be limited to members of the BNP.
Given the restrictions on membership, in the BNP's capacity as an employer, the limitation of job opportunities to members of the BNP will constitute discriminatory arrangements for determining who should be offered employment contrary to Section 4 of the Race Relations Act. On the basis of the current employment application form, the Commission thinks that "the BNP may have committed and may be likely to commit future unlawful acts."
3. PROVISION OF SERVICES BY ELECTED OFFICERS The Commission thinks that the BNP's elected representatives may not offer or provide services on an equal basis to their constituents and/or members of the public irrespective of race or colour. Wadham reminded Giffin of what he said in his speech reported in the Times on 10 June 2009. Speaking about the representation of constituents by the BNP, Mr Griffin stated that he "would expect ethnic minorities to continue to go to the Labour party."
Equality of service provision is required under Sections 19 and 20 of Race Relations Act 1976 and paragraph 3 of the Local Authority Model Code of Conduct. Since all elected BNP representatives and those working or acting on their behalf must comply with such requirements, the Commission thinks that the BNP may have committed and may be likely to commit future unlawful acts.
Although I welcome this letter from Wadham on behalf of the Commission, I felt a weird sense of time lag while reading it. The letter itself was written soon after the BNP achieved two seats in the European Parliament. But what was Wadham doing before that? Let us refresh our memory here. The BNP is not represented in the British Parliament yet, but one can safely discern an alarming trend.
In the 2005 UK general election, the BNP won 0.7% of the popular vote, which was the eighth largest share nation-wide. From then on, it has steadily increased its share of the vote, finishing fifth in the 2008 London mayoral election with 5.2% of the popular vote. This happened in London, the most urbane and cosmopolitan city of the nation, where Londoners successfully sent Mayoral candidate Richard Barnbrook to one of the London Assembly's 25 seats.
The BNP holds several metropolitan borough council seats at the moment, and now the latest election not only produced the BNP's first county council seats in Lancashire and Leicestershire, but also elected the BNP Chairman, Nick Griffin, from the North West region to the European Parliament together with Andrew Brons from Yorkshire and the Humber on 4 June 2009.
Wadham says the Commission bears "primary responsibility" to discharge "a statutory duty (by virtue of Section 8 of the Equality Act 2006) to encourage good practice in relation to equality and diversity, to enforce the equality enactments and to work towards the elimination of unlawful discrimination."
This duty cannot have suddenly popped up after the last election results! The Commission itself was established, as Wadham says, under the Equality Act of 2006, but the BNP has been in existence since 1982. It is understandable that the Commission must have been alarmed as the BNP, in Wadham's words, "has recently made successful gains for the first time in a national election. This has increased public interest and scrutiny."
Could this be a calculated understatement to play down the absence of a more vigorous performance of "a statutory duty" by the Commission to monitor the conduct and activities of the BNP? It is difficult to accept that "the Commission has received complaints from individuals about the BNP's constitution and membership criteria" simply as a result of the BNP's recent successful gains.
Now that the Commission has finally acted on behalf of all citizens, it is the duty of citizens to keep a close watch on the performance of the Commission in carrying out its "statutory duty" with respect to the Race Relations Act 1976, relating to the three areas of the Commission's concern referred to above. On each of the areas of the Commission's concern mentioned above, the Commission has made the following decisions, the implementation of which we have to keep vigil: On the first item mentioned above, the Commission requires a written undertaking on behalf of the BNP:
-- That the BNP will amend its constitution forthwith and in any event by no later than 1 October 2009 so as to ensure and to make transparent that it does not discriminate against potential or actual members on racial grounds; and
-- That pending the adoption of the amended constitution, the BNP will not refuse membership to any individual on racial grounds.
On the second item, the Commission requires a written undertaking on behalf of the members of the BNP that the BNP will not discriminate contrary to the Race Relations Act in its employment and recruitment policies, procedures and practices.
On the third item, the Commission requires a written undertaking on behalf of the members of the BNP that the BNP will not discriminate on the grounds of race or colour in the provision of services to constituents and/or members of the public through or by its elected representatives or those acting on their behalf.
The Commission must receive all these undertakings from the BNP by 16:00 on 20th July 2009. For the purposes of transparency and accountability, it is expected that the Commission will disclose to the public all the necessary information on the progress of compliance on the part of the BNP to the requirements listed above.
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