THE BNP is not being forced to take ethnic minority members because it now receives public money, as Pete O’Connor claims (HAS, Nov 2).

There are a huge number of ethnic or religious-based organisations which receive hundreds of millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money. Faith-based schools are an example.

Nor is there anything in existing legislation that forces the change because the BNP now has two members of the European Parliament.

The real reason for the enforced change in BNP membership rules is a new law being passed by Labour, and for questionable motives. I’ve no doubt Hitler passed laws making life difficult for his political opponents.

Moreover, we all favour laws that ensure ethnic minority access to institutions they can be expected to want to access: state schools, public libraries, and so on. But why would ethnic minorities want to join the BNP, other than to undermine it?

Indeed, the “undermine”

theory has been amply born out by the evidence so far: a group of ethnic minority individuals, wearing pro-multiculturalism T-shirts tried to barge their way into a BNP meeting recently. I suspect Labour’s motives are thuggish and political.

Ralph Musgrave, Durham.