Council leader Miles Parkinson said voters had given his Labour group "a mandate" to govern after they took an iron grip on the town hall in the local elections.

It was a day of Labour celebrations for the second year running as the lead group snatched five seats from the Conservatives to increase their majority from a slender one to a rock solid 11.

By contrast, the Tories endured a tough afternoon with long-serving councillors Peter Clarke, Lynn Wilson, Brian Walmsley and Allah Dad all slipping to defeat in the face of big swings.

Click here to see the results in full

Labour took nine of the 12 wards up for grabs, with the Conservatives holding off the swing to the left to take Baxenden, St Oswald’s and Barnfield.

The results leave Labour on 23 wards, the Conservatives on nine, and the Independent in Hyndburn group unchanged on three.

With county council elections up next year, the borough council will remain firmly in Labour’s grip for at least another two years.

Conservative leader Peter Britcliffe said his group had suffered another "backlash" against the coalition government.

Chris Fisher wins Altham for Labour in the video below ...

</p> <p xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">Labour were delighted to double their ranks in Great Harwood, where the Conservative county council has come under fire for closing the tip.</p> <p xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">Two Conservative heavyweights, Lynn Wilson and Peter Clarke were both dealt punishing defeats, and there was also a huge swing to Labour’s Chris Fisher in Altham. Abdul Ghafar Khan unseated Allah Dad in Central ward, while the other gain saw Oswaldtwistle veteran Brian Walmsley lose by 54 votes to Labour’s Bill Pinder in St Andrews.</p> <p xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">UKIP’s two candidates polled 17.5 per cent in their two wards, while the Liberal Democrats scored just 2.7 per cent in the three wards they contested.</p> <p xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">The overall turnout was 37.0 per cent, well down on last year’s 44.4 per cent.</p> <p xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">THERE was a lengthy delay between the declaration of the fourth and fifth counts after a scuffle broke out near a large group which had gathered to see votes being counted.</p> <p xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> <a href="http://menmedia.co.uk/accringtonobserver/news/politics/local_elections/18_Hyndburn">Click here to see the results in full</a> </p> <p xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> <strong>Get more reports and full reaction in next week's Observer</strong> </p> <p xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> <strong> Reporter Stuart Pike (@stuartpike78) sent back live updates and results from the count</strong><strong xmlns="">.</strong> </p> <p xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> </p>