LABOUR has lost control of Burnley Council after failing to cling on to its one-seat majority.

The party still has the largest number of seats but after losing two to the Liberal Democrats and one to the BNP it does not have enough to hang on to power.

There were celebrations for the Liberal Democrats as they took Lanehead and Queensgate from Labour.

The BNP gained a seat in Hapton with Park from Labour councillor and Mayor elect John Harbour but failed to gain any ground in the borough after losing its seat in Cliviger and Worsthorne to the Conservatives.

Council leader Stuart Caddy said: "We no longer have overall control, but we still have 21 councillors - the Liberal Democrats are the nearest to us and only have 11. We want to continue to run the council despite having a total opposition of 24 against our 21."

Burnley MP Peter Pike added: "Considering what's happened nationally these results are very good.

"We fought a good campaign, focusing on the fact that the council has started to deliver - housing money is flooding in and we have investment for our schools."

The leaders of the main parties will meet later today to discuss how to share power.

In one of the biggest upsets of the night Labour's John Harbour lost his seat in Hapton with Park ward to the BNP's Sharon Wilkinson, a 43-year-old newsagent, by just 28 votes.

Mr Harbour said: "I was looking forward to being mayor but I didn't make any plans because I knew it was going to be tight."

Coun Margaret Lishman, who had expected to be his deputy, will now become Mayor after holding her seat in Briercliffe for the Liberal Democrats.

She said: "I will do my best to represent Burnley and all its citizens and will work hard to improve the borough's profile.

"But I am sorry that this opportunity has come under these circumstances. John would have made an excellent mayor - he will be a great loss to the borough."

At the start of the count at Turf Moor, BNP supporters were confidently predicting that the party would hold its seat in Cliviger with Worsthorne and gain a further three.

Burnley BNP leader Coun Len Starr blamed a co-ordinated and concerted effort by the three main parties to keep his party out for the failure to improve on the six council seats it holds.

He said: "This is the first time that the three main parties have got together to work against the BNP and they were assisted in this campaign by the churches, the mosques and the trade unions.

"We were hopeful that we would do better, but we still have six seats and will come back fighting."

In Daneshouse with Stoneyholme, which is the focus of a police investigation because of the high number of applications for proxy votes, the sitting councillor Mozaquir Ali hung on to his seat, despite stiff competition from the Labour candidate Nurul Hoque.