Green MEP candidate for the North West Region, Peter Cranie, delivered a direct challenge to the leader of the British National Party when he spoke to a Stop the War rally in Manchester on 20 September.
Addressing the crowds attending the anti-war rally on the first day of the Labour Party’s conference, Peter pledged to stand up to the far-right party’s ‘politics of hate’ and ‘end the political career’ of its leader Nick Griffin by defeating him in next year’s regional Euro elections.
Peter said:
“We simply must not allow fascist politics to sow their seed of hate here in Britain. So let’s send a message to Nick Griffin, who hopes to become your representative in the European Parliament. His message of hate, based on mistruths and the blatant lies the BNP prints in its newspapers will not be allowed to succeed here in the North West.
“Next year we all know that Tories will beat the BNP, Labour will beat the BNP, and the Lib Dems will beat the BNP. But let me tell you, here and now, that the Greens will also beat the BNP in this region.
“When we do so, it will end the political career of Nick Griffin and it will send a clear message to the people in Britain. The politics of hope will triumph over the politics of hate. Positive politics delivering real change in ordinary communities, will triumph over hatred and distrust.”
In his speech, Peter also highlighted how Green Party councillors around the country, including in Liverpool, have been leading the way in campaigning for local authority pension schemes to remove investment from companies involved in the arms trade.
He told the crowds:
“It is not enough just to march together, stand together and raise our voices together. There is much more to do. At every level, in every town and city, we must attack the roots of the arms industry.
“There are ways to do it. In 2006, our first Green councillor in Liverpool called on the council to pull out of the Merseyside Pension Fund unless they pulled out of their investment in the arms trade. The first time round, we were voted down. But we did not give up.
“It became clear that all the parties on the council had to support this resolution because it was the right thing to do, the right step to take and the right way to do it. Liverpool council was the first to agree, we now have cross party support on three Merseyside councils, and the pressure grows. We are not there yet, but we must and we will keep fighting until it is unacceptable for any pension money to buy guns, to buy missiles or to buy weapons of mass destruction here in our own country.”