Cruddas attacks Hodge's capitulation to BNP racism

The Government Minister Margaret Hodge has shown her complete incapability to tackle the growth of the British National Party in her constituency by making a policy statment conceding to their racism and backing an anti-immigrant housing policy.
She stated today that established British families should be given priority over economic migrants for council housing because, as she says, economic migrants have 'made a choice' to move here.

Her argument that 'however much social housing you do create, you will nevertheless have to take decisions to ration what will always be a finite resource,' show her failure to consider prioritising the building of increased council housing under New Labour spending programmes.

One deputy leader candidate, Hazel Blears, has already offered her support to Hodge whose Barking constituency saw the first BNP breakthrough in London at last years council elections when it took 12 seats on Barking and Dagenham Council. Its campaign focused on circulating lies that 'Africans' were being paid to move to Barking and also attacking Muslims. However the other MP in the borough, Dagenham's Jon Cruddas, who is standing for the party's deputy leadership attacked Hodge saying 'We're in danger of racialising arguments over housing allocation rather than concentrating on the need for greater social housing provision'. John McDonnell, who had hoped to challenge Gordon Brown for the party leadership said 'This is a deeply reactionary and dangerous statement to make. The issue is the chancellor's failure to allow affordable housing over the last ten years'.

Hodge's capitulation to the BNP's racism further legitimises them as a political party and will help them in their campaign to win election to the Greater London Assembly next year.