ASBOs should not be scrapped – and they have helped keep the streets of Blackburn safe, a Labour activist told the party conference yesterday.

Katie Haworth, of Harrop Court, Darwen, was selected to speak during a session on law and order on Tuesday.

And the 25-year-old’s speech impressed the party hierachy.

She was later selected to sit alongside new leader Ed Miliband during his conference address.

Miss Haworth, who joined Blackburn MP Jack Straw’s team in January, said she had ‘first-hand experience’ of the effectiveness of Anti-Social Behaviour Orders after they were given to three youths who had ‘terrorised’ a neighbourhood in the borough.

She said crime then dropped dramatically, adding: “My opinion is based on fact.”

Conservative Home Secretary Theresa May is set to scrap ASBOs after claiming breaches of the orders had risen above 50per cent.

Also addressing the conference was Hyndburn councillor Ciaran Wells, who spoke of the ‘disastrous’ effect on the area of the cancellation of the Building Schools for the Future programme during a debate about economic and industrial strategy, on Monday.

And Rossendale councillor Liz McInnes spoke about domestic violence and the NHS.