By
Stephanie Brickman
1 min read
By
Stephanie Brickman
The BNP's Gary Raikes has pulled out of the running for Renfrewshire East. According to a BNP spokesperson they have decided instead to concentrate on several seats in Aberdeenshire, Raikes's home turf.
The news was welcomed by community leaders such as Glasgow Jewish Representative Council President Philip Mendelsohn, who said: "I'm glad to hear that the BNP have withdrawn their candidate from the seat as it was clearly targeted at a constituency which has both a high Jewish and Muslim component. It was designed to be divisive in what is a very cohesive community."
Secretary of State for Scotland, Jim Murphy, who held the seat for Labour in 2005 with a 14 per cent majority, also welcomed the news.
"I'm proud that local people have given the BNP the red card," he said. "They have been forced to leave after local people make it clear they would not stand for their politics of poison."
Leafy East Renfrewshire was staunchly Tory until 1997, when to general surprise, the constituency swung to Labour. Locals joke that they just used to weigh the Tory votes as it wasn't worth counting them.
But it's difficult to find a Jew in the area who is dissatisfied with Mr Murphy. In fact, given his tireless attendance at community events, it's hard to find a Jew in the constituency who hasn't met Mr Murphy.
This affluent area, south of Glasgow, is home to around 4,500 Jews who represent six per cent of the electorate. There are three major synagogues, Jewish Care Scotland and a Jewish Community Centre attached to the largest shul - Giffnock and Newlands Synagogue - housing a number of significant communal organisations.
Standing against Mr Murphy, a former chair of Labour Friends of Israel, are Gordon Archer for the Scottish National Party, Gordon MacDonald for the Liberal Democrats and, the biggest threat, Richard Cook for the Conservatives.
According to Tony Tankel of the Glasgow Jewish Educational Forum, Jewish voters are likely to look beyond party allegiances and vote for Jim Murphy personally.
"Even people who would never normally vote for the Labour Party are likely to vote for Jim Murphy because of his support for Jewish affairs," he said. "Generally the community is very appreciative of him. He's the only MP there's ever been locally who has been engaged at this sort of level. He's aware of trends in the community and there's a huge amount of support for him and it's a support that transcends parties."