Given that the national figures for the English Democrats local election performance are not currently available, and the party’s website contains next to no information on this theme, I thought that it might be interesting to see how it fared in Thursday’s elections in Doncaster. I have chosen to look at this borough because the town elected the English Democrat Peter Davies as its Mayor in 2009, which would suggest that local people have at least heard of the party, which may well not be the case elsewhere. It could be expected therefore, that this greater public awareness might translate into a higher potential vote (although then again, as with many parties there could be a negative incumbency effect in play), so having scoured the local press and compiled the voting figures for each of the borough’s 21 wards, I have produced a table for the borough which can be found at the end of this article.
Labour was the only party to contest each ward, and unsurprisingly managed to take all but three council seats. The Conservatives took two, and the Liberal Democrats one. Although the English Democrats contested only twelve seats, this was one more than the Liberal Democrats managed. The full results for the borough are shown below. What this doesn’t show is that the average English Democrat share of the vote in the wards it contested was 16.2%, which is very respectable for a nationalist party. The English Democrats beat the BNP in the two wards where both parties were standing: by 512 to 153 in Edlington and Warmsworth, and by 394 to 288 in Stainforth and Moorends. They did not contest either of the wards in which UKIP were standing, whereas both UKIP and the BNP contested Mexborough, with the former taking 255 votes and the latter 265.
As can be seen from the overall number of votes and the average number of votes per candidate, the English Democrats did comparatively well on each count, coming in fourth place ahead of the Liberal Democrats. English Democrat candidates netted an average of 642 votes, compared to the Liberal Democrats’ 520. Although they took no council seats on this occasion, they did secure three second and six third places. The highest share of the vote achieved was 23.3% (four candidates exceeded 20%), whereas the lowest was 9.5%. In Doncaster at least, the English Democrats appear to have demonstrated that it is possible for a party appealing to English nationalism to make a breakthrough. Interestingly, in last year’s General Election the three parliamentary constituencies contested by the English Democrats yielded the following percentages:
Party Vote Share Wards Av. Vote
Labour 37,921 46.50% 21 1806
Conservative 15,750 19.30% 20 788
Independent 9,501 11.70% 13 731
English Democrats 7,703 9.50% 12 642
Liberal Democrats 5,723 7.00% 11 520
Community Group 1,686 2.10% 4 422
BNP 1,302 1.60% 4 326
UKIP 847 1.00% 2 424
Green 794 1.00% 2 397
Trade Unionists & Socialists Against Cuts
268 0.30% 1 268
Labour was the only party to contest each ward, and unsurprisingly managed to take all but three council seats. The Conservatives took two, and the Liberal Democrats one. Although the English Democrats contested only twelve seats, this was one more than the Liberal Democrats managed. The full results for the borough are shown below. What this doesn’t show is that the average English Democrat share of the vote in the wards it contested was 16.2%, which is very respectable for a nationalist party. The English Democrats beat the BNP in the two wards where both parties were standing: by 512 to 153 in Edlington and Warmsworth, and by 394 to 288 in Stainforth and Moorends. They did not contest either of the wards in which UKIP were standing, whereas both UKIP and the BNP contested Mexborough, with the former taking 255 votes and the latter 265.
As can be seen from the overall number of votes and the average number of votes per candidate, the English Democrats did comparatively well on each count, coming in fourth place ahead of the Liberal Democrats. English Democrat candidates netted an average of 642 votes, compared to the Liberal Democrats’ 520. Although they took no council seats on this occasion, they did secure three second and six third places. The highest share of the vote achieved was 23.3% (four candidates exceeded 20%), whereas the lowest was 9.5%. In Doncaster at least, the English Democrats appear to have demonstrated that it is possible for a party appealing to English nationalism to make a breakthrough. Interestingly, in last year’s General Election the three parliamentary constituencies contested by the English Democrats yielded the following percentages:
Doncaster North
5.2% (fifth, behind BNP on 6.8% and ahead of UKIP on 4.3%)
Doncaster Central
4.4% (fourth place, with BNP on 4.2% and UKIP on 3.4%)
Don Valley
4.0% (sixth behind BNP on 4.9% and UKIP on 4.4%)
The English Democrats have of course done better than the BNP and UKIP this time around because they fielded more candidates in Doncaster, yet this does not account for the fact that their average number of votes and share of the vote in wards contested was higher than for either of the latter two parties. The BNP is in meltdown and UKIP as an Atlanticist Tory party will only ever exert limited appeal to a non-Tory social constituency. Given the SNP’s notable victory on Thursday, and the possible future break up of the UK, the English Democrats look to be best placed ideologically to take advantage of the situation and to become England’s natural nationalist party. Naturally, it would be absurd to extrapolate any general conclusions for the whole of England from this one case study, but Thursday’s experience in Doncaster does suggest that the English Democrats could become a significant force in English politics were they to enjoy greater public recognition. Doncaster Council Election Results: Thursday 5 May 2011
Party Vote Share Wards Av. Vote
Labour 37,921 46.50% 21 1806
Conservative 15,750 19.30% 20 788
Independent 9,501 11.70% 13 731
English Democrats 7,703 9.50% 12 642
Liberal Democrats 5,723 7.00% 11 520
Community Group 1,686 2.10% 4 422
BNP 1,302 1.60% 4 326
UKIP 847 1.00% 2 424
Green 794 1.00% 2 397
Trade Unionists & Socialists Against Cuts
268 0.30% 1 268
Eddy Butler is, regardless of anyones opinion of him, a very skilled election coordinator. If he eventually drops the idea that the BNP can be saved and negotiates himself into a decent position within the English Democrats they could become a very viable, and visible, political party. With people such as Chris Beverley already on board this is looking more and more likely. Interesting times ahead.
ReplyDeleteThat's very true Cygnus. From what I've read, Eddy Butler does seem to be very capable. I have seen a number of nationalists portraying the English Democrats as if they were the devil incarnate for being civic nationalists, but if you read their manifesto, it contains all of the necessary measures to safeguard our ethnic survival. With respect to immigration for example, the following excerpt is important: "entry should be determined by our needs as a society and the ability of newcomers to be absorbed into the prevailing public culture. High priority should be given to creating a peaceful society which is bound together by shared values and perceptions."
ReplyDeleteLater it states: "Our principal concern is to preserve and build on what is left of English cultural unity and social cohesion. The preservation of our identity and culture are at least as important as economic considerations."
The English Democrats rightly recognise that the public (owing to decades of indoctrination) find the overt language of ethnonationalism unpalatable, but this principle is nonetheless embedded within their policy. If some nationalists will not see this, and insist upon overt adherence to their vision of ideological 'purity', then they will get nowhere electorally. Let them by all means campaign for the interests of indigenous ethnic Britons, but please let us have one single political vehicle around which we can all cohere. One which is not bedevilled by fantasists wedded to wild conspiracy theories.
Of course, one problem that the English Democrats haven’t really had to face until now, are the unwelcome attentions of Searchlight, UAF et al. Now that the BNP appears to be imploding, these wretched organisations will be looking for a rationale for their continued existence, and being of Communist provenance, will look to ever expand their definition of ‘far right’, ‘racist’ etc. They will seek to brand the very notion of Englishness, or standing up for the English as a cultural and political entity, as ‘racist’.
Now that it is clear that Barnes’s grasp over the British Freedom Party will not relinquish, and that he continues to post absurd paranoid conspiracy theories on his blog – bin Laden’s been dead since 2001 apparently, and 9/11 was a ‘false flag’ operation - http://leejohnbarnes.blogspot.com/2011/05/osama-hoax-exposed.html I have no intention of joining that party. Barnes’s grasp on reality seems to be about as secure as David Icke’s, although I have yet to see Barnes subscribe to the ‘theory’ of a global elite of alien humanoid lizards. That said, potty as David Icke is, he lacks Barnes’s vitriol, and doesn’t threaten supporters.
I’ve got a busy week ahead, but will try to do some more number crunching on English Democrat results elsewhere. As it’s not a proscribed party in the public sector, I am now within a hair’s breadth of joining. I’ve been considering this for the past two years, but I’m going to carry out a forensic examination of their manifesto in the coming week before taking the final plunge.
I too have spent a considerable amount of time examining the English Democrats manifesto. I'll be interested to read your thoughts once you've had the time to do the same. How they deal with the inevitable attention they'll recieve from the media and their far left puppet masters remains my main concern. Will they, like UKIP, simply implement a ban on former members of the BNP joining in an effort to distance themselves from that parties perceived poisonous image? I suspect that by then there will be a large enough number of ex BNP folk there for them to deal with it. I certainly hope so. Its also worth noting that despite only being with the party a few months Chris Beverly managed to secure 20% of the vote this time, beating both the Conservatives and the Lib Dems. Check out his Morley Patriot blog for more information.
ReplyDeleteWhilst local and national assembly results have been rather predictable in their outcome , I'm sorry to say, perhaps the only astonishing outcome is that UKIP have had no impact and no wins. I was expecting to see a substantial surge in their vote ( not that I was hoping for one!) given their substantial media presence and being the 'respectable' anti-immigration party. Across Greater Manchester they polled less than BNP candidates when the two parties fought the same seat in all but two seats (and one of these, I know, was where UKIP had a fairly well known tradesperson as their candidate, but even then they only polled less than 60 votes more than the BNP).
ReplyDeleteEng Dems also polled more than UKIP in the two seats where they competed - Walkden North (Salford) and Besses (Bury).
The English Democrats aren't an ethno-nationalist party. They are civics. To them, anyone can be English. I am a BNP supporter and to me they are England's civic nationalists like UKIP is Britain's. Besides which, haven't we got enough people in Britain who keep-on pushing separatism? I am a BNP supporter and the BNP desperately needs reform and to get a new leader who has no 'baggage' not that the biased PC media won't still attack them. A properly reformed BNP with a new leader (I think ex-UKIPPER Andrew Moffat would be good) is still the way to go.
ReplyDeleteAs a current BNP local organiser who is on the brink of abandoning the HMS BNP as it sinks I'm afraid I find the English People's Party a much better proposition than the English Democrats
ReplyDelete