IN SOME ways, it is a pity that tomorrow's council elections will reflect voters' concerns on national issues -- in particular, their anger at the government's dismissal of their worries on crime, asylum seekers and gay propaganda -- when it would be useful if the results showed their views of local matters.

For if they did, would we then have the leader of Blackburn with Darwen Council, Councillor Malcolm Doherty, happy to write off as 'meaningless' a petition by more than 1,000 people against his ruling Labour group's plan to run the borough with a cabinet of just eight of his party's members meeting in secret? "I can get people to sign a petition -- we all can," he said. "It is very easy. If you tell them something that isn't a reflection of the facts, people will sign these petitions without knowing what it actually means."

Well, there speaks your arrogant elitist, infected with the very same disdain for the voters that the government is suffering from and will suffer for tomorrow.

It's the we-know-best, you-don't-count attitude that stems from having too much power, be it at Westminster or the town hall.

It is the sort of arrogance that shows such contempt for the other point of view that it will not even allow debate -- as we saw when Liberal Democrat David Foster, who presented the anti-cabinet petition, was twice shouted down by Labour councillors when he criticised the consultation process and focus group meeting which approved the new structure.

So when they are hammered for it at the polls tomorrow, they will be able to blame it on that jumped-up William Hague and his populist bash-a-burglar and cage asylum seekers policies responding to the voters, not their own 'Shove off!' attitude towards them, won't they?