NOW that the Labour group find themselves in opposition on Blackburn with Darwen Council for the first time in 24 years, they are searching desperately for someone to blame.

Ron O'Keefe blames Darreners for wasting £15 million over the Academy protest and says they should be ashamed of themselves for causing good, hard-working councillors to lose their seats.

The fact is that the protests were caused by the way that the Labour group went about the changes in Darwen, starting with misleading promises of housing renovation and ending up with clearance and compulsory purchase.

Just in case this had not upset the Darwen people sufficiently, they then backtracked on plans for the new leisure centre offering to lay on buses to enable users to get to the gym at the other end of town.

Convinced that they knew best, the Darwen Labour councillors responded to the protests with sarcasm and arrogance. Result - they lost seats.

Speaking of lost seats, Ron lost out two years running, in 2006 to the England First candidate and, in 2007, to the Conservatives.

Finally, it is not for Darwen residents, or any of the electorate to feel ashamed of what they have done. Labour brought defeat upon themselves and, just like Tony Blair, now seek to blame the public for not realising how wonderful they were.

BRIAN GORDON, Conservative councillor (one of three), Meadowhead Ward.