Former Burnley MP and current Liberal Democrat candidate Gordon Birtwistle believes he can win at next general election

Mr Birtwistle, the oldest new MP when he was elected by the people of Burnley to Parliament in 2010, believes there is every chance he will hold that mantle again should his fellow residents elect him a second time at this year’s general election, now at the grand old age of 80.

He also revealed he would continue as a councillor representing the Deerplay and Coalclough ward on Burnley Council, that he has served for some 40 years, as he did when he was MP from 2010 to 2015.

Speaking to the Burnley Express about his long career in local and national politics, the retired engineer believes he has an evens chance of once more being called to the Commons on behalf of Burnley.

“I think I’ve got a good chance,” he told me from his home of 45 years in Burnley. “I know people will question my age but I feel fighting fit and I’m ready for the challenge again.”

That fitness could well be down to the two to three hours he told me he spends every day pounding the pavements of Burnley and Padiham, speaking to residents who he believes have been let down by the last 14 years of Conservative government.

Of course, as a member of the Tory Lib Dem coalition in 2010 he was part of that original government, but says he would not favour a coalition with any party should that scenario arise this year.

“I wouldn’t want to be in a coalition again, we have our own ideas. What I am interested in is improving the lives of Burnley’s residents because I can’t believe how far backwards we’ve gone in recent years,” he added.

“I’m talking particularly about living standards, and the rising food and energy bills people are having to deal with. I was born in 1943 in a two-up, two-down rat-infested slum in Oswaldtwistle with a tin bath outside.

“I can’t believe that 80 years later we still have similar housing conditions in Burnley, it’s a disgrace. I have heard and seen some horror stories as a local councillors from tenants in rented property having to deal with damp and mould. The tragedy is that they daren’t challenge their landlords because they fear being served Section 21 notices and thrown out.

“The government have been dragging their feet over scrapping this awful thing but too many have vested interests as landlords. Meanwhile, Burnley Council has nowhere to put them.”

Indeed, Mr Birtwistle believes government ‘Levelling Up’ money would have been better spent elsewhere in Burnley.

“I think the £6m. being spent on the Town 2 Turf project would have been better spent on improving Burnley’s dreadful housing stock. The state of some of the houses near to that project in Leyland Road and Belvedere Road could have been improved.

“Lots of expensive new houses seem to be going up but there is very little social housing being built.”

Please read the second part of our interview tomorrow.