British National Party Agrees To Eliminate Racial Membership Limits

Thursday's London Telegraph reports that the British National Party has agreed to settle a complaint brought against it in August by Britain's Equality and Human Rights Commission. The party's Constitution (full text) limits membership to those who descend from indigenous Caucasian British ethnic groups. The Commission charged that this violates Britain's Race Relations Act. (EHRC Letter Before Claim to BNP). In settling the case, the BNP has agreed to use "all reasonable endeavours" to revise its constitution to eliminate discrimination on the basis of "protected characteristics" including race, gender and religious belief. The court gave party leader Nick Griffin ten days to submit a signed agreement undertaking to present party members with a revised constitution at the BNP's general meeting next month.