South ward in Lancaster, the EFP polled 14%. In the May 2004 local elections, the EFP contested three seats in Blackburn, Preston and Macclesfield, polling an average of 18% of the vote. Two candidates contested the May 2006 local elections in Blackburn, polling an average of 37% of the vote and both were elected as councillors. In a by-election in the East Rural ward of Blackburn in September 2006, they polled 13%. They also contested a by-election in the Danehouse and Stoneyholme ward in Burnley in February 2007, polling 7%. Despite the party campaigning for a ban on mixed-race marriages it was revealed that one of the two elected councillors was reported to have a grandfather from Cameroon. Steven Smith and Simon Bennett stood in the Cliviger with Worsthorne and Queensgate wards respectively, at the 2007 Burnley council elections. Smith came a very distant second with Bennett third in a closer vote. 2010 elections The EFP fielded seven candidates for the 2010 local elections three of them to compete against the BNP in Stoke, but it did not stand in the general election and they had encouraged EFP supporters to vote for the National Front. It came fourth place with 606 votes in the Longton North ward, fifth place with 117 votes in the Weston and Meir ward and sixth place in the Fenton ward with 236 votes in the Stoke-on-Trent local elections. In the Preston Ribbleton ward, Mark Cotterill came fourth place with 315 votes; it came fourth place in the St James ward in Oldham with 425 votes, in the Bradley ward of Pendle it received 279 coming fourth place and sixth place in the Ince ward of Wigan with 134 votes. Resignations In March 2007 the EFP's two councillors announced their intentions to quit. Michael Johnson stated that he would be joining a new party created by himself and Tony Melia For Darwen, while Mark Cotterill signalled his intention to stand down as a councillor and party leader at the 3 May local elections. Johnson's move followed a rift with the party after he objected to an anti-Islamic cartoon of Jesus on YouTube, while Cotterill—who remained a leading EFP activist—has put his decision down to a work-related move to Preston. Defection to England First Party On 1 May 2009, a former British National Party councillor, John Gamble, confirmed that he had defected to the EFP, after criticising