DURING 25 years as MP for Blackburn, the late Barbara Castle built up an impressive reputation on the local, national and international stage.

As a speaker said last weekend, at the celebration of her successor Jack Straw's 25 years as the town's MP, only one other woman has been as influential in British politics in our lifetime.

Barbara Castle pioneered the introduction of the breathalyser, equal pay for women, child benefit and a lot more.

She is also remembered as an MP who never stinted on her constituency and did not hesitate to take up the cudgels on behalf of the townsfolk she represented.

With such an admirable legacy it's difficult to think of anyone who wouldn't welcome the planned statue for the Sudell Cross area of Blackburn town centre.

With statues of just three people, Gladstone, William Hornby and Queen Victoria it's hard to claim the borough is littered with memorials like so many former dictatorships.

And since two men are already on plinths it seems only right that Barbara Castle's image should redress the balance of the sexes.

It isn't a case of flooding our streets with bronze and stonework but simply putting up a very special memorial to a very special woman who helped put the name of Blackburn on the political map.