Bradford's newest and youngest politicians are catching their breath after Saturday's nail-biting election count which saw 30 of them win seats on the Bradford and Keighley Youth Parliament.

They are now preparing for a major springtime conference which will see those who elected them decide the issues they want tackled over the next two years.

Almost 10,000 young people from across the district took part in the election - more than twice the number who voted in the previous youth parliament election.

Bradford youth service team leader Norrina Rashid said the hard work was just beginning as the young voters start to demand progress on the issues they want dealt with. She said: "In March, Bradford's young people will be at a conference and that is when they will decide the workload of the youth parliament.

"They will put forward what they think the parliament should be working on - it could be bullying, drug issues, health issues, cheaper public transport - they then will debate those in front of all the young people and then vote for the top three issues which will become the workload of the parliament."

But before they get down to policy the new MYPs will have to deal with the formalities of becoming an elected member.

So next week they will go through routine paperwork, sign up to a code of conduct and even get e-mail addresses.

Miss Rashid said that once that is done she expects a lot from the young people, adding: "I, along with the Council members and the MPs who were at the ballot, were very impressed with what we saw. We witnessed young people running the counting station and I think that they were impressed at how engaged they were and how seriously they took their responsibilities.

"All the politicians said they were willing to support the youth parliament and that their doors will be open to us."

She said election day was special for everyone who took part, though experts were on hand to console those who missed out on being elected after months of hard work.

She said: "When the results were being announced the tension was incredible - you could hear the laughter and the tears at the same time. I had butterflies in my stomach and I was not standing for

election!"