Fears and uncertainties that fuel support for the BNP

That a small far-right group with no big financial backing and virtually ignored by the media can generate any "distorted and dangerous" publicity is hardly credible (Parties alarmed at BNP election threat. May 13). Unless, of course, it is addressing deeply held feelings and prejudices that find no expression in the policies of the mainstream parties.

The Thatcher government and its successors have consistently undermined the stability of our society and created uncertainty and fear. Now we are all expected to be self-sufficient and not rely on a strong social fabric, cohesion and solidarity. The worries about losing one's job, being unable to pay a mortgage, not getting an adequate pension on retirement, run-down schools and a tottering health service, crime and anti-social behaviour, all compound the certainty that our political leaders are fiddling while the country burns.

The additional perceived "threat" of immigrants undermining our sense of nationhood, taking jobs and housing, is only grist to the racists' mill. The tabloid scare-mongering plus David Blunkett's policies towards asylum seekers and other unfortunates in our society have, predictably, played into the hands of the BNP. When will political leaders learn from history?
John Green
London

While the findings on the BNP may be deeply worrying, they do not necessarily signal support for such parties, but more a growing dissatisfaction for the main alternatives at Westminster. As our recent research shows (Engaged sceptics, May 5), young people in particular are highly distrustful and critical of the mainstream parties. This goes some way towards explaining their abstention from the electoral process.

It also helps us to understand their willingness to consider supporting parties seen to offer more radical and ideological platforms. Our research shows they are more than twice as likely to agree than disagree that the main political parties don't offer voters real choices because their policies are much the same. The main political parties might want to embark on a period of self-reflection about the manner in which they conduct politics and the messages that they send out to the public. They also need to consider their role in helping create a political climate in which complex issues of immigration and asylum are over-simplified in such a way that they are easily manipulated by those whose agenda it suits.
Mark Weinstein
Matt Henn
Nottingham Trent University

If my only concern was to stop the BNP, voting for any party that's not the BNP would do, with boring Labour as good as any. As it is, I have a lot of other concerns, like stopping the destruction of the environment. That's why I vote Green - not because Spencer Fitz-Gibbon goes head to head with a bunch of born-again socialists over who's the most right-on anti-fascist (Letters, May 5-7).
Chris Padley
Market Rasen, Lincs