BURNLEY’S Liberal Democrat MP Gordon Birtwistle will be desperate to hang on to his Coalclough with Deerplay ward tomorrow.

Not only will it decide whether he has a future on the borough council but it will tell him if he has any chance at all of keeping his House of Commons seat in next year’s General Election.

For Labour, ousting him would be the biggest prize of all as they seek to confirm their grip on the town’s politics.

Losing control of the council to a Lib Dem/Tory coalition and then the House of Commons seat hurt.

Labour’s Daniel Fleming will be Mr Birtwistle’s only opponent but wants to put the finishing touches to what his party hopes will be a complete humiliation of the LibDems. This would pave the way for council leader Julie Cooper to replace ‘Birty’ as MP in 12 months time.

Any sign of a revival would be welcome to the Tories with their candidate Tom Watson tackling outgoing Labour mayor, Frank Cant, up against the Conservative Tom Watson. The Lib Dem candidate in the hotly contested Gawthorpe ward is John Mitchell.

Ex-mayor Peter McCann is retiring from his Lanehead seat.

UKIP will contest in four wards in the hope of a local government foothold, the British National Party fields two candidate.

The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition also puts forward two candidates – David Baynes and Gavin Hartley in Trinity and Brunshaw wards.