LABOUR delivered a double double-whammy to their opponents as they swept to victory in Burnley's council elections.

They captured two seats each from the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives to further strengthen their iron grip on the town hall.

And there was no happier victor than Labour's Rafique Malik in Daneshouse, after he turned back the two-year tide to the LibDems by snatching the most hotly contested seat in town.

Two years ago, the Blackburn Racial Equality Council director lost the ward he had held for 18 years, and failed in his bid to bounce back a month later. But he became the comeback kid in Daneshouse with a 179-vote victory over Liberal Democrat rival Manzoor Hussain.

It was a massive 66.5 per cent turnout - more than double every other ward bar one - as the long-serving community leader recaptured the seat he had lost by just three votes in 1994, amid bitter recriminations over alleged proxy vote cheating.

He put all that behind him last night as he pulled in nearly 1,400 votes and declared: "It is good to be back and to be able to serve the community again."

The victory leaves him set to become the town's first Asian mayor.

Another in early line for the mayoralty is Conservative leader Enid Tate - who became the Tories' sole survivor on the council by holding Rosehill by 42 votes. It was a victory she admitted she did not expect, as the two other defended Conservative seats fell to Labour. Had she lost, it would have been the first time in the history of the borough - since incorporation in 1861 when Prince Albert died, Lord Palmerston was prime minister and income tax just 3d - that the council would have sat without a Conservative member.

Mrs Tate described the campaign as the hardest she had ever fought and added: "I was not only fighting Labour but also the unpopularity of the Conservative Government.

"I owe it all to the friends and my husband Maurice, who worked so hard to support me."

Labour council leader Kath Reade said: The result is absolutely incredible and underlines the confidence of the people of Burnley in the Labour-controlled council."

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