If you’ve read this blog for a while you will know by now that I am no fan of the BNP.

Don’t get me wrong I would fight for their right to exist and for your right to vote for them. That is what makes our country great, a democracy built on the principles of free speech.

The content of this article is my opinion, you may agree or disagree, that your choice. I am not saying I am right in this piece either, it’s just my belief. If you want to post an opposing stance, great go for it.

Great thing about a comment article is that it doesn’t have to be balanced. The balance needs to be provided by you the reader.

After a recent short lived dalliance with the Liberal Democrats, I now find myself slap bang in the middle of a political wilderness. No party based on the performance in the council chamber is floating my boat. The impact of this, at a local level, is that I often break out in a cold sweat in at the thought of getting into the polling booth, pencil poised and at a loss who’s box to tick.

I have been following local politics for years and I can’t ever remember feeling so insecure in my political beliefs.

It’s like being at a party. When the buffet opens there is so much choice your mouth waters in anticipation, that is until you pick a vol-au- vant up and you realise that you don’t like the filling. Or the Victoria sponge has butter cream in it and you can’t have any because you are allergic to it. Or the trifle has loads of sherry in and you are a recovering alcoholic!

That’s where I’m at politically I’m afraid, each way I turn there is something that does not quite sit right with me.

Now the BNP are like a sandwich at that buffet, the problem is they have a Marmite filling and you know, you either love it or hate it. Thank God there are far more people can’t stand Marmite than those who love it.

The BNP claim around £100,000 collectively in allowances per year from us the council tax payers of Stoke-on-Trent. The have 2 chairs positions and 2 vice chairs ans sit on various committees [apart from David Marfleet who doesn't sit on a single committee], they have good attendance at full council [apart from Melanie Baddeley with some 69%], from what we are led to believe they work hard in their wards.

So why am I so against them you may well ask? Well I have to be honest and say it isn’t what they do in their wards it’s more what they don’t say in the council chamber.

All 60 ward councillors have a fairly decent reputation for getting through the case load at ward level.

Councillors Like Mick Salih firmly believe that ward work must come first, but by God when he gets into that chamber or sits on the Scrutiny Management Committee he’s like a dog with a bone. When he has hold of something he just doesn’t let go! And it isn’t all negative either. When he opposes there is always a structured reason for it. Take the new position of the paid Independent chair of the NSRP. He opposes it, he has called it in, hit out at officers for advertising the position before the call in was exhausted and all the way along he has said that he opposes it because he feels that the chair should be the political leader of our council.

Now the BNP don’t contribute at all. Alby & Ellie have taken over £32,000 in allowances and I honestly can not remember the last time either of them spoke at full council whether that is to support or oppose an issue. I have yet to hear them put anything forward as an alternative. They did not speak out about Chris Harman’s pay off, they had no opinion on councillors not being informed of key decisions before the press. They did not support or oppose the 243 redundancies that the council are about to finalise. They have simply just sat there and had their attendance mark and then left as early as they could.

It is not good enough. The people that they represent deserve better. Don’t they have a duty to try and improve the City as well as serve their wards? Are they not obligated to put fresh policy ideas and initiatives forward. Isn’t being pro-active the best way of trying to win more support?

The last time I can honestly remember them putting something before the chamber was when a couple of years ago when they opposed the budget. Their main objection was the translation service that the council provides, yet they completely forgot/ignored the fact that translation covers signing services for the deaf and CD’s etc for the blind.

We are coming up to an election year and I want to see all parties putting their manifesto before the people of this city. We should judge parties on what they will do to improve the city and front-line services. If any party fails to lay their policies before the electorate, do they really deserve our vote.

Let’s see every party campaigning hard to win our support. Let them earn our vote. Above all let’s see honest and informative election claims.

I hope that the BNP in this city do not stoop to the level displayed in Barking where the leaflets they put out claiming that the council were housing and paying African immigrants to live in a specific area. This was found out to be a blatant lie!

Let us not see mis-leading claims made on TV by high ranking Stoke BNP officers claiming to have provided CCTV to combat anti-social behaviour when in fact it was down to the dedication of normal residents.

If any party, especially the BNP, want to win our support let it be by fair methods not foul.

If the BNP want to continue this tactic of non-committal silence within our chamber then let them be exposed for it. A BNP councillor may be willing to provide luncheon clubs, dog walking and gardening services for the elderly but there is more to representing the WHOLE community and indeed the city at large.

Each political group on our council should submit a mission and vision statement for the city so that we can see how good their intentions are.

If they can not be bothered to share their aspirations with us then I ask you honestly ““ will they be good value for money and more importantly should they be allowed to get away with it?

BNP take note, we will be watching and listening..