The BNP’s opposition to the EU is well documented. Instead they favour a revival of our trading ties with the commonwealth and former colonies.

If one views this proposal in the context of the BNP’s general aim to ‘reaffirm’ our Britishness and instill “pride in the history…of Britain,” then this thrust towards neo-colonialism is understandable.

However, closer examination of the party’s policy suggestions on trade tells a different story. They propose to “work to restore Britain’s family and trading ties with Australia, Canada and New Zealand, and to trade with the rest of the world as it suits us.”

This suggestion does indeed seek to foster old family ties with former imperial possessions. But their is a mysterious absence in this proposal, namely: the rest of the empire.

Either, the BNP’s policy makers suffered from seriously inadequate historical education, or the BNP would prefer to ignore the vast majority of the empire that wasn’t white.

Mentioning only Australia, Canada and New Zealand cannot be coincidence. They were the only majority white parts of the empire. In the context of trading, surely it would have been obvious to mention India, Malaysia or Hong Kong, some of the most important economic powerhouses and trading posts of Britain’s colonial past and equally important economies in the modern world.

By mentioning only these three dominions, the BNP show that their trade policy has nothing to do with improving Britain’s economic standing in the world, but is simply another contrived attempt to symbolically reinforce white exclusivity.

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