BURY'S Tories were jubilant as they romped to election success in last night's poll.

They snatched another five seats from the ruling Labour group on a night when even fewer voters than last year bothered to turn out.

Even the much-vaunted new electronic voting system in one ward failed to persuade residents that the elections were worth bothering with -- and even then, the results from the touch-screen system came in later than expected.

The new line-up on Bury Council is: Labour 32 seats, Conservatives 13, and Liberal Democrats 3.

The first result of the night came through at 9.56pm, in Besses ward in Whitefield, making Labour's Alan Matthews the first in the country to be elected by electronic voting.

A delegation from Northern Ireland attended the count to see how the system would work.

However, Trilogy Information Systems insisted there was no problem with the system. They just took time to make sure everything was operating properly.

It didn't encourage any more voters out. The turnout of 20.78 per cent was even lower than last year. Across the borough, the turnout was 27.38 per cent, compared to 28.14 per cent in 1999.

It was a great night for the Tories. They snatched Ramsbottom from Labour, putting Sheila Magnall, wife of Melvin, who is sailing his ship to Woodbury, in the council chamber.

One of the biggest scalps was taking the Elton seat of Andrea Hughes, education chairman on the council, after two recounts.

They also scored success in the Whitefield ward of Pilkington Park, where Bernard Vincent ousted Labour's Alan Bridson, chairman of the local area board, again after two recounts. He was the first Tory councillor to be elected in the Bury South constituency since 1996 and, in a welcome double, former Tory councillor Denise Bigg made a comeback in Radcliffe North.

And they easily held on to the Tottington stronghold as local businesswoman Yvonne Wright took over from long-serving councillor Harold Taylor.

Councillor David Higgin, Tory group leader, said: "I am absolutely delighted with the gains. It's what we expected, and shows the Conservatives are coming back. It looks very promising for the next General Election."

It was another poor night for Labour, who have now lost seats to the Tories for the third year in succession.

Not only are their ranks depleted, but the majorities of those who did win were substantially down on last year.

Cold comfort could be found in their heartlands: deputy council leader John Byrne safely held on to his East ward seat, while former mayors Connie Fitzgerald and Alan Matthews were safely returned in Redvales and Besses respectively.

A tearful Andrea Hughes said: "I am very disappointed but politics is swings and roundabouts. It's been a privilege to serve and I wish Yvonne Creswell the best of luck."

Labour leader Councillor Derek Boden added: "I thought we would probably have lost six seats and I thought we did well to retain the wards we did by a relatively small margin."

Coun Boden said the Government was going through a difficult patch, and accused the Tories of targeting people with right-wing views.

The Liberal Democrats came agonisingly close to winning their fourth seat on Bury Council. Tim Pickstone came within 97 votes of deposing Labour member Paul Nesbit in the Prestwich ward of Sedgley.

Party leader Wilf Davison was safely re-elected in the Lib Dems' stronghold of Holyrood, but they made little impact elsewhere.

Coun Davison said his result was a "hollow victory" which rounded off a terrible week, in which his Lib Dem colleague Wilf Clegg had died following a road accident. He added: "We dedicated the campaign to him and to winning Sedgley."

The two Environment and Wildlife candidates can feel pleased at pushing the Lib Dems into fourth place in one of the two seats in which they stood, while sole Independent choice Victor Hagan gained a creditable 107 votes in East ward, ahead of the Lib Dem candidate.

David Chaytor, Labour MP for Bury North, said: "It's very disappointing to lose seats in Bury North, however we must remember that it's a very low turnout. I do not take anything for granted -- we must listen to what the electorate are saying."

His Bury South colleague Ivan Lewis added: "It's a reasonable night for us, three years into a Labour government. There was always going to be an element of people staying at home being complacent and Conservatives coming out to vote."

See our special election page for full results.