HAS electoral sanity returned to Burnley following the defeat of the BNP in Hapton with Park last night?

To think so would be to fall into the same trap which allowed the far right to gain a foothold in the town in the first place.

But the Liberal Democrat party's surprise win, albeit by only 11 votes and after a recount, does maybe, provide a glimmer of hope for the future.

The fact that yesterday's winners have not even put up a candidate in the ward in the recent past gives weight to the argument that a BNP vote has been the only effective protest against the council's ruling Labour group.

But it also shows that when mainstream opposition parties do mobilise themselves and demonstrate to local voters that they care, a large number of people are prepared to shun the far right and back them.

There is, however, still a long way to go before the town can turn away from the unwanted national spotlight which the BNP has given it.

And much of that distance needs to be made up by Labour, an alarming third yesterday and now clinging on to its overall majority at the town hall by a thread.

The rest of East Lancashire should take note. The voters of Hapton have proved that the BNP can be beaten.

But Labour's biggest battle in Burnley, against large-scale public dissatisfaction with its track record, has still to be won.