Reuters -- June 8

"We are just as opposed to mass immigration from all-white Poland as we are to immigration from Nigeria." -- Griffin
British National Party wins first Europe seats

Manchester, UK -- The far-right British National Party, which campaigns for a halt to immigration and British withdrawal from the European Union, won its first seats in the European Parliament on Monday.

BNP leader Nick Griffin, one of the two party members elected, hailed the achievement as an "astounding earthquake in British politics."

Mainstream parties lamented the breakthrough made by a party they regard as racist.
"It's a sad moment for British politics," Health Secretary Andy Burnham said...

"I think that, for years, the British public have watched in growing concern as our country has been transformed in all sorts of ways by an out-of-touch political elite and finally enough of them have summoned up the courage to do something effective about it at the ballot box," Griffin told Sky News.

He said his priority in Brussels would be "to do as much as we can to delay the process of further European unification because it is taking away Britain's sovereignty and our freedom and our identity."

The party would oppose Turkey's entry into the EU "because if people thought that the impact of cheap Polish labour was bad wait until you see what happens if Turkey is allowed in," he said.

Griffin said the BNP's membership policy had "nothing to do with race."

"We are just as opposed to mass immigration from all-white Poland as we are to immigration from Nigeria," he said.

With some results still to be announced, the BNP has already chalked up more than 900,000 votes in the European elections in Britain.

(Reporting by Adrian Croft and Darren Staples; Editing by Michael Roddy)

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsMaps ... F620090608