[Gayle]

Actually Neil, in one way that IS my toughest battle - some other Labour Councillors have accused PB of being biased towards Oswaldtwistle which is pretty natural if that's where your ward is and you have the power to be biased. Can't fault the guy for wanting the best for his own constituents - I'll be exactly the same.

As for which party will be in power after the next elections is actually partly down to who wins in St Andrews.

The Conservatives hold power by just one seat at the moment. Not all the seats are up for re-election next May, in fact there are only 11 seats up for re-election. Eight of those are currently already held by Labour, the other three are held by Conservative and they are ALL in Oswaldtwistle.

So to keep control of the Council all the Conservatives have to do is to hold on to their three seats.

To take control the Labour party has to hold all eight of their seats plus win at least one of the seats in Oswaldtwistle.

So, I think you'll find that most of the campaigning in the whole borough is actually done in Oswaldtwistle because that's where it's most important. I think you'll also find that we have really good Christmas lights, the litter issue is dealt with more efficiently and lots of other things in the run up to next May.

I bet this politics stuff is boring most people already.