SO, now, the disgraceful deed is done. With flagrant disregard for democracy, county councillors have voted to close 32 of Lancashire's care homes for the elderly -- 17 of them here in East Lancashire.

It is not just that the decision stinks of contempt for the overwhelming cry for the homes to be saved, it is also appallingly clear that this was a cut-and-dried business from the beginning. Public consultation over the proposals has been an insulting sham.

What other conclusion can be reached -- when, in slavish obedience to their party and their leaders' control, members of the ruling Labour group drove this shameful decision through with sheer scorn for public opinion and the huge concern over the old folk living in these homes?

Disgracefully, few of them even spoke in this debate. None voted against and none abstained. If ever there was a dreadful example of refusal to represent the people who elected them, this was it. Had they not seen or heard the deafening protest of tens of thousands that has gone on from the beginning? How could they sweep it aside -- above all, in the way that they did?

But let them now be sure that this is not the end of the matter. It will not die down and disappear with the passage of time. For the lives of hundreds of old people are now set to be riven by fear and upheaval -- as they are uprooted on the unproven assumption that, in future, most elderly folk would be better off staying in their own homes.

What of the effects of all this? Do those who voted for it yesterday at County Hall know or care? Be sure that they will -- and so too will the voters -- for this newspaper will bring it home to them at every twist and turn of the closure programme.

We will be reporting every move and every consequence at every old folk's home in East Lancashire and bringing it to the attention of our readers. County Council leader Hazel Harding says: "People can trust us to get this right."

They better had.