NO MATTER that there are lots of consoling factors that Labour can draw on after a bad night at the polls -- such as low turn-outs favouring their opponents, the upset being a classic case of a government suffering a dose of mid-term blues, and council polls and by-elections being a different kettle of fish from the big one -- the party has been given a clear warning from the voters.

It is one that says; "We are in charge, not you."

For that message is patently at the root of this backlash against the arrogance with which New Labour has stamped itself -- a demeanour manifested by its insistence on unpopular policies such as gay rights; denial of the North-South divide and the hardships experienced by many of its traditional voters; and, at local level, the bulldozing away of democracy by council chiefs bent on junta-style control.

And if East Lancashire was a microcosm of the people's retaliation, New Labour would need all the succour if could find.

For, despite blurs in the pattern, overall the party has suffered sharply here with a landslide against them in Rossendale; the Tories winning Hyndburn after being virtually dead three years ago; the socialist citadel of Burnley now becoming a hung council; and Labour's poor showing in Blackburn with Darwen triggering a leadership challenge.

Only in Pendle was there any cheer for Labour. But, there again, the result -- with Labour now the biggest party on the council -- seems to stem from voters' rebellion against councillors who ignore them; in this case, with the Liberal Democrats being punished for their petulant refusal to form a proper administration.

But if there is a clear message in this for elitist, out-of-touch, bossy Labour, will its politicians heed it?

Evidently, it will not come easy -- if the reaction of Blackburn with Darwen Labour leader and advocate of secret 'cabinet' government, Councillor Malcolm Doherty, is any guide.

He blames his party's rotten results on 'misleading' stuff in the newspapers, not policies deliberately designed to make control-freak councillors unaccountable to the public.

But if he and his ilk cannot determine the causes for the backlash on their own patches, let them look at London where Ken Livingstone's victory epitomises the voters' revolt against central control.

Dictatorial Downing Street got all it deserved there and, nationwide, it only took the Tories opportunistically pitching in with populist policies on crime and asylum seekers to ignite the powder.

Their undeniable comeback, with nearly 600 gains being better than expected, but not enough to augur a general election victory, is, of course, tempered by the by-election loss of their safe Romsey seat.

But that, too, is a measure of the revolt against the government, with disillusioned Labour voters tactically backing the Lib-Dems.

That is it in a nutshell: Voters have become disenchanted with New Labour, but won't give their trust back to the Tories...not yet.