LABOUR leader Stuart Caddy was today back at the helm of Burnley Council-- but has just four days to sort out the political mess which has paralysed the authority.

The former leader was returned to power at a meeting last night -- five weeks after quitting in a row over the make-up of the council's ruling executive.

Talks will now take place between the main parties, minus the British National Party, to try to negotiate an acceptable coalition ruling body.

If talks fail to reach a solution by Monday, when the council meets again, Labour will try to form an executive themselves. But opposition parties, who outnumber Labour by 24 to 21, could again block the move, leaving the threat of Government-appointed civil servants being brought in to run the authority.

The minority Labour administration lost power last month following a series of Liberal Democrat motions aimed at breaking the Labour domination of seats on the executive.

Coun Caddy returned to power after a vote went for him by 19 to 15.

Four Liberal Democrat abstentions and one from the BNP swung the balance back in Labour's favour.

Over the last five weeks talks aimed at breaking the deadlock have repeatedly broken down.

The Liberal Democrats, whose own nomination of Coun Charles Bullas as leader was defeated during the meeting, have said they will take part in a mixed executive but not with Stuart Caddy as leader.

Group leader Coun Gordon Birtwistle said: "The situation is farcical. We have a leader who resigned his position and has now been voted back in.

"We have had lots of meetings and put forward a suggested executive of four Labour, three Liberal Democrat and one Conservative.

"We even conceded the position of leader to Labour as long as it was not Coun Caddy.

"Unfortunately they could not accept that.

"We will still power share, but we will not work with Coun Caddy as leader."

Conservative leader Peter Doyle said: "This is a sorry day for Burnley. We will continue with an unstable council and could find ourselves in a real crisis when it comes to deciding on a budget."

British National Party leader Len Starr said: "This is not a satisfactory solution. We have returned to the situation we had five weeks ago and it appears that Coun Caddy is tainted goods."

Coun Caddy said: "I am delighted I received a nomination to be leader once again and I will continue to mediate and try to bring people together.

"We accept that the council cannot continue in the way that we have and we accept other parties should have a say on the executive.

"We want to work together in the best interests of the people of Burnley."

Before last night's meeting the council was under threat of being run by Whitehall-appointed civil servants unless its leadership was sorted out.

That threat still remains if an administration is not formed on Monday.

Monitoring officer Nick Aves, who is responsible for making sure the council meets its legal obligations, wrote to all councillors warning them of the consequences of failing to reach a solution. And he reminded them the future of the town is more important than politics.