News Brief

The Equality and Human Rights Commission has begun legal action against the British National Party (BNP) because of what appear to be racial restrictions in its membership.

The official equalities body says that limiting membership to those of an "ethnic origin" described as "indigenous Caucasian" is illegal and needs to be challenged in the courts.

The BBC reports that the BNP's constitution, framed in September 2008, does not explicitly mention the word "white" when talking about restrictions on membership.

The term is only used in the section on the party's political objectives: "It is... committed to stemming and reversing the tide of non-white immigration and to restoring, by legal changes, negotiation and consent, the overwhelmingly white make-up of the British population that existed in Britain prior to 1948."

County Court roceedings have been issued against BNP leader Nick Griffin and two other party officials.

The Government's Equality minister, Harriet Harman, said: "No party should be allowed to have an apartheid constitution in 21st Century Britain. I welcome the action."

In a statement the EHRC said: "The BNP's membership criteria appear to restrict membership to those within what the BNP regards as particular 'ethnic groups' and those whose skin colour is white. This exclusion is contrary to the Race Relations Act.

"The commission believes the BNP's constitution and membership criteria are discriminatory and, further, that the continued publication of them on the BNP website is unlawful.

"It has therefore issued county court proceedings against party leader Nick Griffin and two other officials."

John Wadham, director of legal affairs at the commission, said: "The BNP has said that it is not willing to amend its membership criteria which we believe are discriminatory and unlawful.

"The commission has a statutory duty to use our regulatory powers to enforce compliance with the law, so we have today issued county court proceedings against the BNP.

"However, the party still has an opportunity to resolve this quickly by giving the undertaking on its membership criteria that the commission requires."