The countdown to the General Election officially began yesterday, as five writs were ceremonially handed over to officials at City Hall.

The writs, sent from the Clerk of the Crown, were hand-delivered by Royal Mail to the Lord Mayor of Bradford, Councillor Mike Gibbons, and the new High Sheriff of West Yorkshire, Ed Anderson, in his first engagement in the post.

The Lord Mayor holds the honorary position of returning officer for the Bradford East, Bradford West and Bradford South constituencies, while the High Sheriff holds the position in Keighley and Shipley.

In reality, the work of returning officer will be carried out by Bradford Council’s interim chief executive, Suzan Hemingway.

Councillor Gibbons said: “It’s a time-honoured historic role that is performed for each election.

MORE ELECTION HEADLINES

“It’s an honour to be here with the new High Sheriff Mr Ed Anderson to sign the writs and this signifies the beginning of the election process in the district.”

Mr Anderson said: “Similarly, I feel very privileged to be able to join the Lord Mayor today. It is actually the very first thing I have done as High Sheriff. I only became the High Sheriff yesterday, so this is a wonderful way to start my year.”

The writs were delivered by by Royal Mail manager Ian Milner, who said there were particular requirements for delivering the documents across the country.

He said they all had to be delivered yesterday or the election would have to be put back by a day.

But the pressure was really on when the writs were returned to the capital with the polling results on, he said.

“If they don’t go back the other way, it’s null and void and we have to re-run the election,” he said.