VETERAN Burnley MP Peter Pike has confirmed that he will be stepping down at the next general election.

The 64-year-old parliamentarian indicated when selected to fight the safe seat in June that he had no intention of going on for another full Parliament as he approached his seventies.

And today he officially confirmed that he would not fight another election.

The news will spark an immediate rush to take over the seat which had a majority of more than 10,000 on June 7.

Likely contenders include Clarets fan and Downing Street Director of Communications and Strategy Alastair Campbell, defeated Ribble Valley candidate and former Burnley councillor Marcus Johnstone, local union representative County Councillor Terry Burns, and Councillor Kath Read, another former leader of Burnley Council.

Mr Pike believes that Burnley is becoming one of the country's most deprived authorities, but that their case is not yet full understood.

According to Mr Pike 3,500 empty houses, unemployment and the organisation of local government are at the root of Burnley's problems.

He said: "Increasingly you look at the terrace housing that we have got and people don't want them.

"Expectations in life are improving and people want something better. I believe that everybody is entitled to a decent home and that the council are facing some very tough decisions about what to do about our empty houses."