LAST YEAR, Bishop Auckland Labour MP Helen Goodman invited me to a meeting in Spennymoor regarding the BNP’s rise in popularity.

Not only was I surprised the BNP had not been invited, but the room was on the whole, barring a couple of very nice priests, and in my personal view, full of left-wing nutters with nothing relevant to add to the conversation.

In fairness, Ms Goodman asked everyone in turn to speak. The lefties spouted off about the evils of racism, but nobody could see the elephant in the room as to why the population seemed at odds with the Labour Party.

My pitch went something like this: Electrolux… twice, Rothmans, Black & Decker – thousands of jobs lost in one town alone. The knock-on effect is that town centres and local independent businesses suffer, and so long as the local ruling parties are judged to be not doing enough then people will protest in any way they feel is necessary.

I might as well have been talking to a room of Martians who wanted a family fun day against racism.

Truly, Labour simply doesn’t get it and merely wanted surety of votes. Suffice to say, I had no intention of going to any further such meetings.

Jim Tague, Bishop Auckland.