A FORMER Burnley Mayor bidding to become the Liberal Democrats' parliamentary candidate in the next general election said it will probably be his last chance to fight the seat.

Councillor Gordon Birtwistle stood as the candidate in the 1992 and 1997 elections, but was taken off the national party's approved list of candidates after the 1997 campaign because he had called for the then Mayor of Burnley to resign as a councillor following a conviction for public indecency.

He has now applied to be put back on the list and will then put his name forward to the Burnley Liberal Democrats who will make the final choice on who will stand.

Coun Birtwistle, 60, who has represented Coalclough with Deerplay ward on the council for 21 years and was the borough's mayor in 2002/2003, said: "I wasn't going to go for it, but so many people have approached me and said I did a good job as mayor, raising the profile of the town, that I should stand again to be the MP, so I thought I would give it a go.

"I am not as young as I was so this is really my last chance to try and win the seat.

"It looks like the Labour Party will be selecting a candidate parachuted in from London and that is not what the people of Burnley want.

"They want someone who knows the area and will fight for it, and that is what I will do."