Liberal Democrat statement on Loughton's BNP Councillor Suspension

12.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Sun 2nd Oct 2005

Following the suspension of a Loughton BNP Councillor, the Liberal Democrat Group on Epping Forest Council released the following statement:

As a group we've always been uncomfortable with sharing the council chamber with people of such extreme views, but we've respected their right to be there.

The BNP practises the politics of fear and division, no better highlighted that through recent letters attributed to BNP Loughton district councillor Terrance Farr.

These letters are full of inaccuracies and intentional misunderstandings and expose as lies the BNP's claims not to be racist and to represent the whole community.

The fact that the BNP's official response describes Mr Farr's comments as 'mild in tone' shows the BNP has not moved far from its thuggish roots.

In practise Mr Farr's suspension is unlikely to make any difference to local people given the BNP's failure to make an impact on the council since it was elected. We look forward to residents having their chance to pass judgement next May.