By Echo Comment ECHO COMMENT File photo dated 06/05/10 of a voter placing a ballot paper in the ballot box MOST of the focus of “Super-Thursday”, the biggest set of local elections the country has ever seen, has gone on the Hartlepool by-election – dubbed the most important by-election in 30 years – and then on the Tees Valley mayoralty. But it is no exaggeration to say that Durham – not just a heartland but a bastion – of Labour is in the melting pot. If the huge, and shock, Parliamentary gains that the Conservatives made in 2019, even winning Durham North West, are translated into council seats then the first change of power in a century could occur at County Hall.