Residents in Tunstall, a deprived area of Stoke-on-Trent, last night made the shock decision to call in the BNP. Members of the newly formed Tunstall Action claim that one of the few ways in which to improve their quality of life is to turn to the far-right party, and that mainstream parties are 'not listening' to their concerns about asylum seekers, who they blame for falling house prices, and a decline of living standards in Tunstall.
This decision has cause communtiy leaders to act with dismay with the residents decision to turn to the BNP. Stoke North MP Joan Walley said: "There is a huge gap between people's perceptions and the true situation. There is no way that the BNP and the protest that they represent will deal with the situation."

The editoral comment in the Sentental claims that "asylum seekers make up far less than one percent of Stoke-on-Trent's population. Yet their impact of their badly managed arrival is threatening to change the city forever", and blames "the failure of the city's political institutions to address the issues which is driving ordinary members of the public to ask Far Right extremists for help."

Authors note: The above is simply a summary of an article of the Stoke Sentinel, and does not reflect the opinion of the authour. I would like to comment that the decline of living standards in Tunstall and other deprived areas in Stoke-on-Trent is due to the demise of the pottery industry, and the lack of anything to replace it. The failure of anti-fascist groups to adress peoples precived concerns on asylum seekers is another problem, as is they are often simply denounce the BNP without understanding why people vote for them (in last year's mayoral elections, the BNP candidate got 3rd place in Stoke-on-Trent). Sadly it's been the case throughout history that the most vunerable in society are often the most scapegoated, and today that scapegoat is asylum seekers, even though their share of the population of Britain is very small.