A WOULD-BE politician is swapping a fireman's pole for a voting poll in a bid to become his party's only candidate in East Lancashire.

And firefighter Ian Dixon says he will fight to bring his colleagues' plight to the public's attention if he is elected.

Mr Dixon is standing for the Green Party in Hyndburn's Barnfield ward, one of the borough's four most deprived wards.

And the 41-year-old, who works on Green Watch at Accrington Fire Station, is the only candidate the party is fielding in East Lancashire this year.

"The Green Party has supported us from the beginning of the dispute, the only national political party that has done that," he said.

"They now appear to be the nearest party to the trade unions. We think we have modernised quite well in this town and in the county.

"Although there are things that we agree with the government on, we think they're trying to run the job down with a view to privatising it.

"I would try to explain exactly what the fire service do in supporting local communities by doing fire safety talks, fitting smoke alarms and doing inspections."

The election is Mr Dixon's first foray into the world of electioneering.

"I have lived in the area on and off for 33 years and know the area very well," he said.

"I've thought of doing this for one or two years, but I've finally done it this time.

"I don't believe any other party offers a vision for the future of the town and the country. I have been involved with green festivals and alternative ideas for a number of years and it's just developed.

"It's kind of an experiment, to dip our toe in the water to see how we are received. If the feedback is good and the vote is reasonably encouraging we will be hoping to field more candidates next year."

And he believes the party can make good use of money coming into the area to improve the borough's housing.

"We would like to see it spent on energy conservation ideas in the home to make them more green all round. We would also like to encourage more open spaces, more gardens for people to grow their own produce. We think it's a bit soul destroying that you can have areas where you never see a blade of grass.

"We have no illusions as to getting in but you never know."

Graham Carter, secretary of the East Lancashire Green Party, said: "Ian is our only candidate in East Lancashire this year. We are reforming at the moment."

Seats in 12 of Hyndburn's wards are being contested this year in the borough's first all postal vote.