WHY are people so surprised by the BNP winning two seats in the European Parliamentary elections? Our Labour Government is doing nothing to help the ordinary person. It gives billions of taxpayers’ money to the banks in a panic; it has borrowed more money than any of us can imagine; and it refuses to listen when people want it to account for the misappropriation of taxpayers’ money.

People are voting for parties like the BNP out of a desperate need for change. Don’t be fooled. This is how Nazi Germany grew – with the people disillusioned, unemployment rising and an articulate leader willing to use all powers at his disposal.

Luckily, the BNP leader is not a great speaker and has credibility issues – otherwise we may be looking at a different problem.

The real enemy at home is the Government, which is destroying our democracy. I don’t have any party affiliation, but I want to be fairly governed and supported, and see others less fortunate than myself helped – something missing from the career politicians we have now.

“If you don’t vote, you can’t complain,”

my dad always said, but I fear the trust is totally gone and what is a vote worth now? Can we get the trust back? I’m not sure we can. – Paul Dobson, Newton Aycliffe, Co Durham.

WILL Gordon Brown finally do the right thing and call a General Election?

His only legacy is allowing the BNP into mainstream British politics through his and New Labour’s arrogance and cowardice.

This New Labour Government has put the British public into the position of being desperate enough to vote for the BNP, a fascist and racist party.

I accept that the Conservative Party has not done enough to get its message across, in all communities, that there is an alternative.

The Conservative Party does offer real solutions to the problems that have been created by this New Labour Government’s ridiculous one-size-fitsall cohesion policies. The Conservatives are committed to working with communities to find solutions based on common sense, tolerance and respect.

I will fight for what is right and having representatives of the racist BNP representing England in Europe is not right.

I urge people in the North-East to forget the past and look to the future and give the Conservative Party the opportunity to mend Britain. – Councillor Kate Davies, Conservative, North Yorkshire.

AS the results of the European elections sink in, I hope that the leaders of the three main parties have the guts to admit in public what went wrong for them.

Firstly, they are all tainted with the expenses scandal, but Labour – being the party in power – deservedly got the biggest kicking.

Secondly, Britons are fundamentally Eurosceptic and depriving us of a vote on the so-called Lisbon Treaty was a contemptuous kick in the teeth we are not prepared to accept.

Thirdly, we are all fed up with the fact most of our laws are made in Brussels and we want a massive repatriation of powers to Westminster.

Fourthly, politicians have debased the value of public service to the lowest level I can remember and, as a result, allowed extremist fringe parties to benefit.

Finally, Messrs Brown, Cameron and Clegg need to tell us how they are going to address these issues. I suspect that they will duck and dive to avoid a straight answer. – David Lacey, Durham.

I WOULD just like to ask the people who, as a protest against the centre parties, voted in the European elections for the BNP and other extreme right-wing parties to consider what happened to democracy when the National Socialists won in Germany.

Neither the far right or far left have a good record of tolerating opposition and if the BNP gets a majority there may be no chance to change your mind if you don’t like what you get.

Voicing any opposition could be very dangerous for, as correspondent CT Riley pointed out last week (HAS, June 6), there were five million non-Jews killed by Hitler and these included anyone who disagreed with the party.

If you think it could not happen in this day and age, then look around the world and see how many of its leaders were democratically voted in and then declared themselves president for life. – Tom Cooper, Durham.

I HOPE that the success of the BNP in gaining European Parliament seats will tend to “Europeanise”

that party.

With the possible exception of Germany, Britain is the most guiltridden of the European nations, because we have in the past been the most successful. We are therefore the least capable of assertiveness.

It may well be that policies to protect ourselves demographically now stand a better chance of being adopted and implemented at a European rather than a national level.

Instead of trying to wreck the Parliament (as UKIP suggested it would after the previous election) the BNP should be looking to make alliances there.

It should support a slimmeddown role for the EU including tasks, such as stopping immigration, which can usefully be tackled at an EU level. – John Riseley, Harrogate, North Yorkshire.

WATCHING the news on Sunday evening, I felt the same horror as that of all decent-minded people at the election of the BNP’s first MEP for Yorkshire and the Humber.

With the laws that we have preventing “incitement to racial hatred”, I cannot understand why this obnoxious party is legal at all.

Can anyone please give me a plausible answer? Meanwhile, I remain truly shocked. – Gwendoline Lamb, Marton, Middlesbrough.