MP Philip Davies has stepped up his campaign to break Shipley and Keighley away from Bradford Council.

The Conservative Shipley MP has recently launched his Leave Bradford Council campaign, and was this weekend at Baildon Carnival to collect signatures on a petition. It is calling for the Parliamentary constituencies of Shipley and Keighley, which are currently part of Bradford Council, to become their own separate local authority.

Mr Davies has been calling for the split for several years, and made it one of his pledges in the last General Election.

However, the idea does not have the support of Keighley MP John Grogan (Lab) and the leader of Bradford Council has claimed that the split would create extra bureaucracy and could lead to “worse outcomes” for the people of Shipley and Keighley.

In a letter from Mr Davies to his constituents, he said: “Bradford Council has consistently prioritised spending in their city centre heartlands at the expense of the outlying areas of the Keighley and Shipley constituencies. With the creation of a separate council the money raised by council tax will be spent in our local community by people who know you and your issues, rather than being delivered by more remote councillors in Bradford with little interest in our areas.”

He told the Telegraph & Argus that he would be at events throughout the district to gather support for the split, and would be at Bingley show this weekend. He hopes to collect enough signatures to convince the Secretary of State to launch a boundary review.

Mr Davies said: “We’ve been getting a really good reception from different parts of the constituency. We need to show the Secretary of State the strength of feeling. I’m pretty sure the majority of constituents agree with me on this. I’m doing what I promised to do before the last election, and I want my constituents to decide if it is something they want to see.”

Mr Grogan has responded to the campaign by saying: “For me splitting up Bradford district would be a costly diversion in time and money for the local taxpayer . It would mean losing important economies of scale in the provision of public services. Besides, once you start trying to split up the district there is no way of telling where it would end? If it becomes everybody for themselves, would relatively affluent Ilkley really want to join up with, and subsidise, poorer areas of Keighley, for example?”

Bradford Council leader Susan Hinchcliffe said: “It simply does not make sense to set up two local authorities where you now have one, especially at a time when Philip Davies’ own government is slashing its funding for services to everyone in this district. To set up another local authority would double the costs – each would have to have its own chief executive, senior management team and bureaucracy to deliver the same or possibly worse outcomes.

“Philip Davies wants richer areas of the district to break away from the rest but where does that argument end? Does Baildon then say it wants nothing to do with Windhill and go for its own independence?

“Philip Davies should be supporting our calls to end his government’s damaging cuts in funding for local services.”

Shipley Councillor Vick Jenkins (Lab) said: "I was very disappointed to see that Philip Davies was perusing this agenda. It is a deeply cynical political campaign designed to create division. Philip Davies and his party know that what they are asking for will not be achieved. People in the Shipley feel very connected to the Bradford both in a community and cultural sense and know that together we are both stronger and happier."