Labour tightens its grip on Bradford Council on a 'disappointing' day for the Conservatives

The local elections saw net gains of three seats for Labour, with the party extending its narrow majority on the council.

At one of the district’s two election counts, at Odsal’s Richard Dunn sports centre, cheers went up when council leader David Green retained his Wibsey seat.

He said: “We fought this campaign straight and with good humour.

“I’m going to continue working hard to represent Wibsey and I hope, depending on the outcome of the AGM, to continue in the administration of the council in City Hall.”

Although the party retained control of the council, he added: “There are really difficult times ahead given the government cuts and we will need to find radical ways to make sure we can continue to provide vital services for people in Bradford and Wibsey.”

The Conservatives had a bad day, losing two long-standing councillors in Bradford, including the much-respected chairman of the children’s overview and scrutiny committee, Malcolm Sykes.

They remain the official opposition, with 21 councillors in total.

Conservative group leader Councillor Simon Cooke said he was “very disappointed” with the result, saying Mr Sykes and Michael Walls, who came fourth while defending his Queensbury seat, would both be a big loss to the authority.

He said: “We have lost two good councillors who served Bradford very well, so that’s disappointing for us. Elsewhere, we have held up all right and done reasonably well.

“We are disappointed we didn’t win back the seats in Craven and Ilkley as well but they are strong independents and it is always very difficult to go up against them.”

The Liberal Democrats were celebrating after holding the three seats they were defending and winning a fourth in Bradford Moor, bringing the size of their group into double figures.

Former Bradford East MP David Ward was one of the Liberal Democrats’ successful candidates, rejoining the council he was a long-standing member of before his time in Parliament.

Councillor Jeanette Sunderland, leader of the Liberal Democrat group, said: “It’s great news. Clearly, when people work hard for the communities they represent, people value the work they do.”

Cllr Sunderland said they would begin work immediately, and said there was “more work to do” scrutinising Labour’s spending decisions.

The Greens’ leader, Martin Love, retained his Shipley seat, meaning the size of the Green group on the council remains unchanged at three.

Cllr Love said: “I’m very grateful that the people of Shipley have put their faith in me for another four years.

“Labour threw a lot at Shipley – but my vote held up.”

But UKIP, which already had one councillor on the authority, failed to realise hopes of another breakthrough, going home empty-handed.

This year’s elections threw up one or two anomalies, as the Bradford Independent Group - four councillors who left the Respect party amid a row with leader George Galloway - were stepping down en-masse, leaving four seats in traditional Labour areas up for grabs.

In the end, Labour bagged two of them, with Aneela Bano Ahmed winning in City ward and Sarfraz Nazir clinching a seat on the council to represent Manningham.

A third went to Lib Dem candidate Riaz Ahmed, in Bradford Moor, while independent candidate Talat Sajawal won the fourth in Little Horton.

A third of the seats on the council were up for grabs this year, and everything was to play for, with the controlling Labour group going into the election with a majority of just one.

A leaked internal Labour memo revealed party bosses were expecting “a difficult week” in trying to retain control of Bradford Council.

But amid a mixed set of election results for Labour nationwide, the party had a positive day in the Bradford district, and now have 49 of the 90 seats on the council.

Perhaps Labour’s biggest coup of the day was securing its third councillor in Thornton and Allerton - a ward which has gone from entirely blue to entirely red in just three years.

Labour’s new councillor Beverley Mullaney, who ousted Tory Malcolm Sykes in the ward, said: “It’s a great result, fantastic, and I can’t wait to work with our two sitting councillors.

“I just think this sends out a clear message to the Conservative Party that people have had enough and we want back for our communities what they have taken away.”

Mohammad Shabbir, who was recently suspended from the Labour Party over claims he posted anti-Semitic Facebook posts, retained his seat in Heaton.

He told the Telegraph & Argus: “I’m pleased my vote count has gone up. It is testimony to all the hard work that has gone in from the very beginning of my campaign.

“There was the suspension, but my team was determined to carry on.”

It is understood Cllr Shabbir will sit as a Labour councillor if the party clears him of wrongdoing, but will sit as an independent if it decides to withdraw the whip.

Rosie Watson claimed the Wyke ward for Labour, beating sitting independent councillor David Robinson into third place, after UKIP’s John Worsley.

This year's election count passed peacefully and smoothly, according to returning officer Kersten England.

"It has been pretty smooth," she said. "Tempers were kept."

Her comments came after what has been a turbulent election campaign in some parts of Bradford, with one candidate, Liberal Democrat Tariq Mahmood, treated in hospital after a disturbance in Bradford Moor in the early hours of polling day.

Ms England, who is also chief executive of Bradford Council, said in total, around 10 complaints about electoral malpractice had been received by her election office and had been referred to the police.

She also revealed that a small number of postal votes had been referred to the police to be investigated.

For the first time, the election results were broadcast live on the council's website.

Ms England said: "This is the first time we have done the webcasting.

"The council made a decision that it would begin to webcast major public meetings like the full council and the executive, so this was about trying the technology out, as much as anything else."

Turnout in the local elections was 37.9 per cent. Although it was far lower than last year's turnout of 64.4 per cent, turnout tends to be far lower in years where there is not a General Election held at the same time.

However, one senior councillor, Liberal Democrat leader Jeanette Sunderland, said she was disappointed by the low turnout.

"It is poor," she said. "A third of people have bothered to vote. We need to find a different way to get people involved."

It proved a good day for independent candidates, with a total of five being either elected or re-elected to the council.

Independent candidates, who do not enjoy the support of a larger party, often struggle to get more than a handful of votes in local elections.

Often, councillors sitting as independents on the council are doing so because they have left a political party during their term.

But this year proved to be a little different.

In Keighley Central, former Lord Mayor of Bradford Khadim Hussain, who quit Labour after being suspended in the ongoing anti-Semitism row, was re-elected as an independent councillor.

He beat his nearest rival, Labour candidate Kaneez Akthar by nearly 1,000 votes.

Cllr Hussain said he had stood up for his principles and described the outcome as a "vote of confidence".

"I feel overwhelmed," he said. "The people of Keighley have spoken and I'm thankful to them."

Independent candidate Talat Sajawal surprised the main parties by winning in Little Horton, the seat vacated by Bradford Independent Group leader Alyas Karmani, who stood down at this year's elections.

Cllr Sajawal, who works in a children's centre, said: "I was hoping to win, definitely. I thought I was strong enough within my own community."

Cllr Adrian Naylor retained his Craven seat for The Independents, as did Cllr Anne Hawkesworth in Ilkley.

And Lynda Cromie is back on Bradford Council after being re-elected in Queensbury. The independent councillor, and wife of ward colleague Paul Cromie, had lost her seat last year to the Conservatives' Lisa Carmody but this time she took the seat from the Conservatives' Michael Walls.

At Bradford's count, the Tong ward was the first to be announced. Cllr Michael Johnson held the seat for Labour.

He said: “Traditionally, Tong was always the first [to declare]. Last year we weren’t for some reason so it was good to get back to being the first.”

When asked if his majority of 320, ahead of second-place UKIP, showed an easy win, he said: “It didn’t feel like it.”

Delighted Labour councillor Alex-Ross Shaw was the first winner to be announced at the count at Keighley's Leisure Centre, retaining Windhill and Wrose for Labour.

He said: "It’s fantastic. We’re all tired after working so hard, not just for the election, but for the last four years."

Conservative John Pennington said he was overjoyed to be back representing Bingley for another four years.

"You can’t be complacent in this day and age – you have to put the effort in.

“It’s a difficult time with central government having to do some nasty things, Ukip have a resurgence and Labour had a candidate who brought a lot of young voters to the polling stations,” he said.

In Baildon, the Tories' Debbie Davies said she was delighted after increasing her percentage share of the vote.

She thanked her rival candidates, saying: "It’s been a friendly campaign."

Labour councillor Michelle Swallow, who retained her seat in Clayton and Fairweather Green, said: "I've got to carry on working straight away, I have a pile of work as long as my arm to do, so we can't rest on our laurels."

Bradford Council has a new face thanks to a victory for the Conservative candidate in Bingley Rural ward.

The seat was won by Naveed Riaz, who lives near Wilsden. He replaces Baroness Margaret Eaton, who announced she would step down from this seat last autumn.

Cllr Riaz said he was absolutely delighted to have won, saying: "I've been involved with the Conservative Party since I was 12 years old, and I've been working hard since I was selected to stand in October. I fought the campaign on local rather than national matters."