Two of Bradford’s political groups have spoken of their disappointment that this year’s election count will not be held overnight.

The district goes to the polls on Thursday, May 22, but the count will begin the day after – a change to the traditional overnight counts.

The decision when to hold the count is made by Bradford Council’s chief executive Tony Reeves as returning officer.

But neither the Council’s Conservative group nor its Liberal Democrat group are fans of the arrangement.

Councillor Glen Miller, Conservative leader, said a next-day count “just drags it out”.

He said: “My view is, get the count done as soon as the poll is finished. Let’s start counting then.”

Coun Miller said if polling finished at 8pm rather than 10pm, an overnight count could begin earlier.

And Coun Jeanette Sunderland, leader of the Liberal Democrats, said a next-day count was unfair on party activists who would now have to take the Friday off work.

She said: “I have always felt it should be counted on the day. The reason for that is activists have worked hard and they have taken time off work.

“Now they are expected to take another day off work.”

This year, the local elections coincide with the European elections and Coun Imran Hussain (Lab), deputy leader of the Council, said this was why the count was not being held overnight. He said: “Ideally I would want to see the count carried out overnight and the results announced as soon as is possible. But both the local and the European ballot papers have to be validated before the local election count can begin.

“Council officers have advised that this could take up to six hours.”