by Lamiat Sabin

THE DEMISE of the BNP was cemented yesterday after minority socialist and anti-austerity groups overshadowed the far-right party in poll results.

A total of 1,667 people voted for the BNP, but nearly every other smaller party, such as the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (Tusc) and National Health Action, overtook them.

The Tories’ disdain for unions and the appalling strangulation of the NHS in their hands — with more punishing cuts to come — led to Tusc and NHA gaining traction.

TUSC’s vote doubled to 36,327 from the last general election.

NHA, a group set up three years ago to fight the dismantling and privatisation of the health service, followed with 20,210 votes.

A total of 514,819 people voted for the BNP in 2010 but it failed to return an MP under former leader Nick Griffin.

He was booted out in October for trying to “destabilise the party.”

This year, only eight candidates stood — down from 330. The sharp drop suggests that the end is nigh for the extreme right-wing group.

Matthew Collins, of Hope Not Hate — whose campaign contributed to the collapse of the BNP, said that the party was “always going to fall short” as its membership was lower than 20 years ago.

“It’s no surprise that the party is severely doomed. It is dead,” he added.

The group Cannabis Is Safer Than Alcohol (CISTA) also beat the BNP, with 8,419 ballots cast in its favour. It was founded this year to campaign for drug law reform.

Only anarchist group Class War fared worse than BNP, attracting 526 votes shared between seven candidates.