“Let’s be honest… the results for the BNP in the recent election (sic) were pretty dire… Still, we can take comfort in the misery of others!…In Wales, the British National Party beat the Lib Dems in four of the seven FPTP constituencies we contested”.

That was the BNP’s analysis of what happened in the 2011 Assembly elections and for once they are not a million miles away. But I think we need to dig a little bit deeper to see whether it was a terrible election for the BNP who have had high hopes of winning a north Wales Regional list seat vote ever since 2007.

So how did they do? The first headline is that from 2007 they were up by around 4% in the first past the post constituency seats (FPTP). But that statistic needs to come with a heavy dose of context. Firstly, the BNP did not contest any FPTP seats in 2007 so every vote was a gain. And secondly they stood in just seven seats, all of whom produced a Labour victor averaging a touch under 55% of the vote so they had no chance of winning. Small comfort for the Lib Dems though, it has to be said.

So we turn to the place where the BNP traditionally places most of its effort, the Regional List. It is usually a very good start to a campaign when one of your star candidates gets an exclusive across the UK media. And then there was Sion Owens, still being investigated by the CPS for burning a Koran in his Swansea back yard. Whilst Iran’s Press TV was wide of the mark in saying this was another example of a ‘senior’ UK politician attacking Islam, we all know the potential for horrific repercussions if the video were ever released and the stain it would have on Wales.

So it started badly and in South Wales at least the campaign disappeared into a hole despite Nick Griffin thundering to his faithful that there was a seat to be won in Wales unless the vote was rigged.  At the giddy heights of number four on their list for South Wales East, Griffin’s daughter, Jennifer Matthys was not destined to be one of them. And neither was anyone else because their vote collapsed.

In 2011, every Regional list vote was down hugely compared to 2007. Including North Wales where Griffin had high hopes his north Wales lieutenant John Walker would prevail. The BNP mustered just 4785 votes. In 2007, the BNP won 43,197 votes across Wales. In 2011 it was 22, 610.

May 5th 2011 was not a night for vote rigging. It was a night almost 50% of those who voted for the BNP last time stopped blaming and thought for a moment before casting their votes. It was a night that all those committed to a fascist free Wales could be proud of themselves.

It was also a night where in England, the BNP retained just two Councillors. One disappointed BNP candidate was Gary Lucas, defeated in Knowsley who always has an interesting comment or two to make on his facebook page. “Ballot box [is] not the answer in this country anymore” he wrote angrily.

So what is the outlook for the BNP and more importantly what is the impact here in Wales likely to be? Let’s return one last time to Mr Griffin esq of Welshpool. On election night he tweeted “Message for the Searchlight/Civic/Thieves alliance:The BNP is not going away and nor am I. We’ve work to do!”.

The rise of fascism/the BNP/WDL in Wales is a preventable evil and Enoch Powell was absolutely spot on when he stated that ‘The supreme function of statesmanship is to provide against preventable evils’.

Every single politician up and down Wales, every trade unionist and every part of what we call civil society has a duty to prevent the poison of the BNP filling our streets. We do it by engaging with the electorate and listening to real voices. Voices that share hope but also occasionally fears. Fears of a world that for some at least, is changing just that little too quickly for comfort.

That is surely not beyond us and for all the invective associated with the word ‘coalition’ or dare one say even ‘rainbow coalition’ is something to unite us all whether you wear red, blue, green or yellow.

Because, like Griffin, we still have work to do.

Darron Dupre

Darron leads for UNISON in Wales on countering the far right and the BNP. He is also a key contact for Searchlight in Wales.