FORMER Bury MP David Sumberg is preparing to represent local voters once more after making a sensational comeback in last week's European elections.

The man who was Bury South MP for 14 years thought his political career was over after a drubbing in the 1997 General Election, but he rode the Tory surge in popularity to triumph in the Euro poll.

Also safely home was Labour's Gary Titley, local MEP for the last ten years, but he was unhappy with the results which saw Labour lose six of its ten North West seats.

But the biggest winner was apathy. The North West had the lowest turnout in the country at just 19.67 per cent - it was 21.42 in Bury - compared with the British average of 23 per cent. The Tories came first in Bury North, the seat easily won by Labour MP David Chaytor in 1997. It follows an improved performance in last month's local elections in which they won two seats from Labour. A delighted Mr Sumberg, pictured, said: "The Tory party got the right message across. Most people don't want to come out of Europe but they feel we have gone far enough."

Since 1997 Mr Sumberg has been a director of the Anglo Israeli Association and working with a company which advises people on how to lobby Parliament.

"It's a new existence for me and I will have to learn quickly. The European Parliament is very much a consensus place and the need to do deals is paramount."

A downbeat Mr Titley was re-elected for a third term but said his victory tasted bitter due to the low turnout and Labour's poor performance.

Mr Titley accused the Tories of running a "dishonest campaign" pretending it was a referendum on the euro, and forecast that the Tories would run into trouble on the issue come the next General Election.

The MEP said the turnout had "serious implications for democracy", and thought the main reason for apathy was that the war in Kosovo had overshadowed other European issues.

He said: "It's never been as exciting a time to be an MEP. The Parliament has new powers, there's a new Commission, and enlargement of the EU is on the horizon."

Mr Titley said he would retain his headquarters in Radcliffe, and added: "We need to sort out the region which is the job of all ten of us as the region's representatives.

"The challenge for us is to do that without indulging in silly political games."

How we voted in Bury

BURY NORTH

(turnout 22.4%)

Con...6,397

Lab...5,629

Lib Dem...1,146

UK Ind...999

Green...874

BNP...258

Liberal...219

Pro-Euro Con...160

Soc Lab...135

ACPFCA...34

Natural Law...13

W Weekly...13

Ind Humanist...10

BURY SOUTH

(turnout 20.44%)

Lab...5,541

Con...4,798

Lib Dem...1,073

UK Ind...802

Green...755

Liberal...221

BNP...190

Soc Lab...175

Pro-Euro Con...103

Natural Law...28

Ind Humanist...14

ACPFCA...13

W Weekly...6

The Tories ended up with five MEPs: Lord Inglewood, Sir Robert Atkins, David Sumberg, Den Dover and Jacqui Foster.

Labour have four MEPs: Arlene McCarthy, Gary Titley, Terry Wynn and Brian Simpson. The Liberal Democrats have one MEP, Chris Davies.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.