The Rundown - St Andrews cancels BNP's invitation to debate

St Andrews has withdrawn its controversial invitation to the leader of the British National Party to speak at a debate. The university's debating society had invited Nick Griffin, the leader of a party which is widely thought to be racist, to speak on a motion that "This house believes that the multicultural experiment has failed". A barrage of protest was unleashed when the invitation was made public. The NUS has had a no-platform policy for fascists since the early 90s, meaning that it refuses to participate in discussions with them and encourages its members to do the same. NUS Scotland called on the debating society to withdraw its invitation, saying that the BNP's policies were "contrary to every single principle of the student movement". It also faxed other student unions asking them to put pressure on St Andrews to cancel the debate.