21 October 2009
Mr Murphy said that BNP support in Scotland had increased ten fold in the past decade and now only our largest football stadiums could accommodate all Scottish BNP voters at once.
Speaking ahead of the BNP appearance on BBC's Question Time this Thursday, Mr Murphy said, "It turns my stomach that these people are on our televisions. It is sickening but it became unavoidable once they won elections. The big question is how did they win elections"
Jim Murphy added:
"I didn't ever think I would have to debate a fascist party. I thought that type of politics was a thing of the past but that poison is back in the form of the BNP. They are now on Question Time and its time for them to give some answers about their denial of the Holocaust and their hatred of immigrants. Their politics are alien to our British way of life where we try to see people for who they are rather than their skin colour, nationality or religion.
"Nick Griffin will try to appear human and will hide his fascist views. Gone will be the BNP Nazi salutes and Holocaust denials. It turns my stomach that these people are on our televisions. It is sickening but it became unavoidable once they won elections. The big question is how did they win elections? I think that complacency is the answer and I worry that Scotland is still too complacent. We look at parts of England where the BNP have won and I fear that people think it could never happen here.
"Ten years ago the number of people voting BNP in Scotland numbered just over 3000. In June of this year that increased ten fold to 29,000 people in Scotland who decided to put their cross in the BNP box. Their support is now sufficiently large that only the largest stadiums in the country could now accommodate all Scottish BNP voters at once. If this thought doesn't concern people then the problem is only going to get worse.
"Politicians must take the threat more seriously. They must not convince themselves that because the BNP are not a danger in Scotland. The threat is there and we need to act. All parties need to persuade good people that doing nothing helps those with extremist views. In my time in politics I can honestly say that the overwhelming majority of politicians from all the main political parties are decent folk who, regardless of what I may think of their politics, have good intentions. The challenge for all these decent people is to prevent any anger with mainstream parties being exploited by people with evil intentions. We need to rise to this challenge sooner rather than later and we must succeed not for the sake of politicians but for the sake of our country."