The British National Party made another breakthrough in Calderdale as it secured its second seat on the Council.

Pallet maker Richard Mulhall took the Illingworth seat from Labour's Zoe Marston.

The Labour group leader, Coun Bob Metcalfe, also lost his seat, coming third behind the BNP. Local results in full

In neighbouring Leeds, the Labour party maintained its grip on power - even though its group leader also lost his seat.

The Labour Party had 52 seats with the Tories having 22 and the Lib Dems 20.

But Council leader Brian Walker lost his Rothwell seat to the Lib Dems.

In Kirklees, the Lib Dems were the largest party with 30 seats, gaining four, while Labour lost four to hit 22 seats and the Tories 16.

High profile district councillor Anne Hawkesworth romped back to her seat on Ilkley Parish Council last night with the second highest vote.

She obtained 932 votes in the Ben Rhydding ward - pipped by Kathleen Brown in Ilkley West. Michael Lyons came third with 925 votes. All three are Conservatives.

Heseltine wins seat back

Robert Heseltine, who had to resign as a Craven councillor after being convicted of 12 charges of falsifying accounts, made a triumphant return in last night's election.

Mr Heseltine easily won a three-way contest in the Skipton South ward to return to the Council three years after he was forced to resign after admitting falsifying his accounts while chairman of the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority.

Standing as an Independent, he polled 412 votes, more than 200 ahead of his nearest rival, Frances Cook, another Independent who was defending her seat.

Meanwhile, a plea to newly elected town councillors to stop fighting and start working together was made by Cllr Barry Thorne, deputy leader of the Labour group on Bradford Council, in his acceptance speech after retaining his seat at Keighley West.

From the stage at the Victoria Hall counting station in Keighley he said: "I realise this may be controversial, but I have to say it. Keighley town councillors should start working together for the benefit of Keighley instead of fighting each other."

He was referring to recent bitter arguments which had split the newly formed Council.

Overall there were no changes to the district Council wards with each current councillor retaining their seats - Coun Thorne (Keighley West); Coun Malcolm Slater (Lab), Keighley North; Coun Lynne Joyce (Lab), Keighley South; Coun David Emmott (Con) Craven ward; and, Coun Glen Miller (Con), Worth Valley.

In all wards the turn out was around or below the 30 per cent mark.

In Keighley South where the turnout was 26.4 per cent Coun Joyce said: "The right to vote was hard won. Many places in the world don't have that right."