THE past three weeks have seen local politics in Blackburn with Darwen descend into the gutter.

Whatever lies behind the action of the six newly elected councillors who declared themselves independents, nothing justifies letting down those who voted for them as Labour candidates.

Their decision (and we are still awaiting a comprehensive explanation of exactly why they announced their defection from the Labour group) is a smashing of democracy.

When it happened we pointed out that it would be morally wrong for the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives to climb into bed with people who had shown such a lack of trustworthiness.

But the carrot of power proved too much of a temptation for opposition groups who seemingly put all moral considerations aside and pressed ahead with their courting of the six.

Lo and behold the whole situation backfired spectacularly on the LibDems and Tories with five of the six saying they are going to broadly back the Labour party's programme whilst retaining the right to look at things issue by issue.

So who comes out of this tawdry affair with any credit? Least of all the six who have treated with contempt those who so recently voted for Labour candidates.

Certainly not the Tories and Lib Dems who have shown themselves desperate for power but massively short on political wisdom.

Labour do not appear to be the worst culprits but we still need to know more about what was apparently said that so upset the six defectors in the first place.

What is clear however is that we now have an administration built on shifting sands.

Labour may be technically back in power - but it's not real power when the votes of the six breakaways cannot be relied upon.

A huge air of uncertainty now hangs over the governance of the borough and the real losers in this whole sorry affair are the people of Blackburn and Darwen who deserve far better.