This article lists the British National Party's election results in the UK parliamentary, Scottish parliamentary and Welsh Assembly elections, as well as in the European Parliament elections and at a local level.
United Kingdom elections
Summary of general election performance Year No. ofcandidates Total votes Average votesper candidate % of vote Change(% points) Saveddeposits* No. of MPs Rank 1983 53 14,621 276 0.0 N/A 0 0 17/29 1987 2 553 277 0.0 0.0 0 0 18/18 1992 13 7,631 587 0.1 +0.1 0 0 18/27 1997 56 35,832 640 0.1 0.0 3 0 16/35 2001 33 47,129 1,428 0.2 +0.1 7 0 15/34 2005 119 192,746 1,620 0.7 +0.5 34 0 8/42 2010 338 563,743 1,668 1.9 +1.2 73 0 5/38 2015 8 1,667 208 0.0 −1.9 0 0 29/50 2017 10 4,642 406 0.1 0.0+ 0 0 17/? 2019 1 510 510 0.0 0.1- 0 0 TBD * Note: Until 1985, a deposit was saved on securing 12½% of the votes cast; from 1985, this was reduced to 5%.
General election, 9 June 1983 This was the first general election after the formation of the BNP following the disintegration of the National Front (NF) in the early 1980s. The BNP stood 53 candidates in order to be eligible for the five-minute national television broadcast offered to all parties running fifty candidates or more. Although the party did not anticipate winning any seats (as was the case) the election was pivotal in ensuring that its profile was raised, with 13 million viewers watching the broadcast.N. Copsey, Contemporary British Fascism: The British National Party and the Quest for Legitimacy, 2004, p. 30 The NF itself contested 61 seats, a significant drop from the 303 it had contested in 1979. Only three constituencies (Hackney S & Shoreditch, Islington S & Finsbury and Worthing) were contested by both parties and in all three the NF beat the BNP. However, their combined vote in each of these constituencies was roughly half of what the NF had secured previously.
38 of the seats contested by the BNP had been contested by the NF in 1979. However, the BNP vote in all but one was lower than the NF had previously achieved. (The exception was Carmarthen: NF 149 in 1979; BNP 154 in 1983.)
BNP results ranged from 94 to 632 votes. Its share of votes ranged from 0.2% to 1.3%.
Constituency Candidate Votes % Ashford 195 0.4 Basingstoke 344 0.6 Beckenham 203 0.5 Bolton North East 186 0.4 Bournemouth West 180 0.4 Bradford North 193 0.4 Broxbourne 502 1.0 Carmarthen 154 0.3 Chislehurst 201 0.5 Ealing North 306 0.6 Edmonton 372 0.8 Eltham 276 0.7 Enfield North 268 0.5 Enfield Southgate 318 0.7 Epping Forest 330 0.7 Erith and Crayford 272 0.7 Glasgow Shettleston 103 0.3 Gloucester 260 0.5 Greenwich 259 0.7 Hackney South and Shoreditch 374 1.0 Harborough 280 0.5 Hertford and Stortford 304 0.6 Heywood and Middleton 316 0.8 Ilford South 316 0.8 Ipswich 235 0.5 Islington North 176 0.5 Islington South and Finsbury 94 0.2 Leeds Central 331 0.9 Leeds West 334 0.7 Leicester East 459 0.9 Leicester South 280 0.3 Leicester West 469 1.0 Lewisham Deptford 317 0.9 Lewisham East 288 0.7 Lewisham West 336 0.8 Liverpool Walton 343 0.7 Loughborough 228 0.4 Manchester Gorton 231 0.5 Milton Keynes 290 0.5 Orpington 215 0.5 Plymouth Drake 163 0.4 Ravensbourne 242 0.6 Reading East 147 0.3 Stevenage 236 0.5 Thanet North 324 0.7 Thurrock 252 0.6 Wakefield 295 0.6 Walsall South 632 1.3 Warrington North 267 0.5 Woolwich 384 1.0 Worcester 208 0.4 Worthing 103 0.2 York 148 0.3 Total 14,621 0.0 The Guardian 11 June 1983
By-elections, 1983–87 Date of election Constituency Candidate Votes % 26 February 1987 Greenwich I B Dell 116 0.3
General election, 11 June 1987 With party finances strained, leader John Tyndall decided not to fight this election.N. Copsey, Contemporary British Fascism: The British National Party and the Quest for Legitimacy, 2004, p. 40 The party's Bromley officer Alf Waite and West Kent chief Michael Easter both broke rank and stood as candidates and, despite attempts by Tyndall to maintain unity, some of Waite and Easter's supporters split from the BNP to join the Flag Group after the election.N. Copsey, Contemporary British Fascism: The British National Party and the Quest for Legitimacy, 2004, p. 41
Constituency Candidate Votes % Ravensbourne A Waite 184 0.4 Tonbridge and Malling M Easter 369 0.6 Total 553 0.0 The Guardian 13 June 1987
General election, 9 April 1992 Although a wider slate of candidates was put forward than in 1987, the party concentrated its campaigning efforts on the East London constituencies of Bethnal Green and Stepney and Bow and Poplar on the back of some relatively strong performances in local elections in the early 1990s.N. Copsey, Contemporary British Fascism: The British National Party and the Quest for Legitimacy, 2004, p. 53 The party's first elected representative to a borough council, Derek Beackon, would be elected in this area the following year.
BNP results ranged from 121 to 1310 votes. Its share of votes ranged from 0.3% to 3.6%. Constituency Candidate Votes % Bethnal Green and Stepney 1,310 3.6 Blaby 521 0.8 Bow and Poplar 1,107 3.0 Cardiff North 121 0.3 Clydesdale 342 0.7 Darlington 355 0.6 Dewsbury 660 1.1 Edinburgh West 133 0.3 Erewash 645 1.0 Peterborough 311 0.5 Rochdale 620 1.2 Southwark and Bermondsey 530 1.4 Uxbridge 350 0.7 Total 7,631 0.1 The Guardian 11 April 1992)
By-elections, 1992–97 Date of election Constituency Candidate Votes % 9 June 1994 Dagenham John Tyndall 1,511 7.0
General election, 1 May 1997 Both Tyndall and Tony Lecomber felt that recruitment of new members was of central importance to the growth of the BNP and it was agreed that a larger scale general election campaign was needed in order to accomplish this.N. Copsey, Contemporary British Fascism: The British National Party and the Quest for Legitimacy, 2004, p. 68 The party spent £60,000 on their election campaign, although ultimately it had no great impact on volume of membership.N. Copsey, Contemporary British Fascism: The British National Party and the Quest for Legitimacy, 2004, p. 71
BNP results ranged from 149 to 3350 votes. Its share of votes ranged from 0.4% to 7.5%. Constituency Candidate Votes % Aldershot 322 0.6 Ashfield 595 1.2 Barking 894 2.7 Batley and Spen 472 1.0 Bethnal Green and Bow 3,350 7.5 Bexleyheath and Crayford 429 0.9 Birmingham Edgbaston 443 0.9 Birmingham Northfield 337 0.9 Birmingham Perry Barr 544 1.2 Blaby 523 1.0 Blackpool North and Fleetwood 288 0.5 Bournemouth West 165 0.4 Bradford West 893 1.8 Bristol North West 265 0.5 Broxbourne 610 1.3 Calder Valley 431 0.8 Carshalton and Wallington 261 0.5 Charnwood 525 0.9 Chingford and Woodford Green 1,059 2.4 Clydesdale 311 0.7 Coventry South 328 0.7 Croydon South 354 0.7 Dagenham 900 2.5 Dartford 424 0.8 Dewsbury 2,232 5.2 East Ham 1,258 3.2 Edmonton 437 1.0 Eltham 491 1.1 Enfield North 590 1.2 Epping Forest 743 1.4 Erith and Thamesmead 718 1.7 Feltham and Heston 682 1.5 Gillingham 195 0.4 Glasgow Govan 149 0.5 Glasgow Shettleston 191 0.6 Hackney South and Shoreditch 531 1.6 Harlow 319 0.9 Ilford North 755 1.6 Ilford South 580 1.2 Kingswood 290 0.5 Leicester West 302 0.7 Leominster 292 0.6 Mitcham and Morden 521 1.1 Morley and Rothwell 381 0.8 Old Bexley and Sidcup 415 0.8 Poplar and Canning Town 2,849 7.3 Reading East 238 0.5 Reading West 320 0.7 Rochdale 653 1.4 Romford 522 1.2 Rossendale and Darwen 674 1.3 Sherwood 432 0.8 Southwark North and Bermondsey 713 1.8 Stoke-on-Trent Central 806 1.5 Stoke-on-Trent South 568 1.2 Taunton 318 0.5 West Ham 1,198 3.6 Total 35,832 0.1 The Guardian 3 May 1997
By-elections, 1997–2001 Date of election Constituency Candidate Votes % 31 July 1997 Uxbridge Ms. F Taylor 205 0.7 23 November 2000 Preston Christian Jackson 229 1.1 23 November 2000 West Bromwich West Nick Griffin 974 4.2
General election, 7 June 2001 On the back of an intense local campaign that had been bolstered by the tensions around the 2001 Oldham race riots, the BNP secured their best ever general election result in Oldham West and Royton where party leader Nick Griffin secured 16.4% of the vote.N. Copsey, Contemporary British Fascism: The British National Party and the Quest for Legitimacy, 2004, pp. 125–133
BNP results ranged from 278 to 6,552 votes. Its share of votes ranged from 0.8% to 16.4%. Constituency Candidate Votes % Ashton-under-Lyne 1,617 4.5 Barking 1,606 6.4 Bethnal Green and Bow 1,211 3.2 Bexleyheath and Crayford 1,408 3.5 Birmingham Hodge Hill 889 3.3 Blaby 1,375 2.8 Bradford North 1,613 4.6 Broxbourne 848 2.2 Burnley 4,151 11.3 Chingford and Woodford Green 1,062 2.9 Coventry North East 937 2.0 Croydon Central 449 1.0 Dagenham 1,378 5.0 Dewsbury 1,632 4.5 Dudley North 1,882 4.7 Enfield North 605 1.6 Erewash 591 1.2 Hayes and Harlington 705 2.2 Leicester East 772 1.9 Lewisham East 1,005 3.3 Mitcham and Morden 642 1.7 Newport West 278 0.8 Oldham East and Saddleworth 5,091 11.2 Oldham West and Royton 6,552 16.4 Pendle 1,976 5.0 Poplar and Canning Town 1,733 5.1 Romford 414 1.2 Ruislip Northwood 547 1.5 Stoke-on-Trent South 1,358 3.8 Sunderland North 687 2.3 Sunderland South 576 1.8 Walthamstow 389 1.1 West Bromwich West 1,428 4.5 The Guardian 9 June 2001
General election, 5 May 2005 BNP results ranged from 376 to 5,066 votes. Its share of votes ranged from 0.8% to 17.0%. In total 34 BNP candidates polled 5% or more and saved their deposit. The highest percentage was achieved in Barking by Richard Barnbrook, later to be elected to the London Assembly in 2008 when the BNP passed the 5% threshold and thus qualified for a single seat.BBC News "Profile: Richard Barnbrook", 3 May 2008