BNP Struck Off Political Parties Register

The British National Party has been removed from the UK's register of political parties, the Electoral Commission has confirmed.

The commission said the party - which won two seats in the European Parliament in 2009 - had failed to meet the annual requirement to submit its registration details on time.

The BNP, which has faced allegations of racism among its members, went into decline after its leader Nick Griffin lost his seat as an MEP in 2014.

Mr Griffin was expelled from the party and replaced as chairman by Adam Walker five months after the election defeat.

The Electoral Commission said: "The last date a notification can be submitted to the Commission is six months after the deadline for submission of a party’s statement of accounts.

"The BNP’s statement of accounts were due on 7 July 2015. Their annual confirmation of registered details was therefore due on or before 7 January 2016.

"The Electoral Commission did not receive the notification by this date and is required by law to remove the BNP from its register of political parties in Great Britain."

The ruling means BNP supporters can remain members of the party but candidates for election would have to stand as independents and would be barred from using the BNP name or logo on the ballot paper.

If the party applies to re-register, the application would be considered along with other applications from new political parties.

The BNP once had 50 council seats but fielded only eight candidates at last year's general election, down from 338 in 2010.

BNP spokesman Stephen Squire said it was a "clerical error on our part" and that the party would submit the necessary paperwork within the next few days.

"It's a little bit embarrassing," he said, but insisted it would be "business as usual" for the party, which intended to contest the London mayoral election and some council seats.

"We've been overwhelmed by the number of phone calls we've had from people concerned we might be disappearing."