§ Mrs. Anne CampbellTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to curb the rise in racial attacks and the increasing activity of the British National party.
§ Mr. Charles WardleThe Government have on many occasions expressed their abhorrence of racial violence and harassment and fully support police efforts to tackle racially motivated crime.
Ministers have decided to reconvene the interdepartmental racial attacks group, chaired by the Home Office. The group provides a forum in which different agencies can examine the issue of racial violence at a national level, and co-ordinate a broad-based response. The first meeting is due to take place in February 1994.
The views of the British National party are as repugnant to the Government as they are to the public at large. If the activities of this group or its members breach the law, they are liable to be dealt with by the police under public order and criminal legislation, and a number of prosecutions of BNP members have been mounted in the past.