The future of Bradford’s Council’s political makeup remains unclear this evening, but there has already been a political earthquake with the Council’s leader ousted by Reform.
Results for around two thirds of the Bradford District were announced on Friday, with Labour losing numerous seats and Reform making huge gains after starting the week with no Councillors.
High profile politicians to lose their seats were Council Leader Susan Hinchcliffe (Windhill and Wrose), Councillor Alex Ross Shaw (Windhill and Wrose), Executive for Regeneration, Planning and Transport, and Councillor Brendan Stubbs (Eccleshill), leader of the Liberal Democrats on Bradford Council.
Another big shock saw Daniel Devaney, who was named as a Reform candidate for the Clayton and Fairweather Green ward, win his seat.
Mr Devaney had come under fire after previous Tweets describing Muslims as “pure scum” emerged.
He has since said he was no longer going to be standing for Reform, but by then ballots had already been sent out.
An announcement that Wyke had shifted from three Labour Councillors to three Reform Councillors marked the moment the Nigel Farage-led party made its first gains in Bradford politics.
A clean sweep for Reform followed in Queensbury and then several other wards.
At the close of play on Friday it was not clear who would be running the Council after the weekend, although Reform were in a good position to become the biggest party.
Polls had predicted a torrid election for Labour, which has run Bradford Council for 16 years ahead of this week.
In some areas Labour defied the polls – City returned three Labour Councillors despite predictions that the ward would go to the Independents.
But there were few positives for the party after Friday’s count.
When asked how she felt about losing her seat, Councillor Hinchcliffe said “It’s not about me” adding: “I’m thinking more about the Councillors who have worked so hard for the residents of the District, day in, day out, who have lost their seats today.”
The Bradford Independent Group lost seats, including the Bolton and Undercliffe seat held by former Bradford East MP David Ward.
The Green Party, who were expected to make huge gains in this election, also had a disappointing night, with expected gains failing to emerge.
This year was a rare “all out” election in Bradford – where every Council seat is up for grabs.
Usually Bradford operates on a system where a third of candidates are up for re-election once every four years, with a fallow fourth year.
A shake up of ward boundaries meant that every seat was up for grabs this year – meaning this election always had the potential to see a huge shake up in the traditionally Labour led Council.
It coincided with a collapse in support for Labour across the country, and the rapid rise of Reform.
Here are some of the winners and losers of the election
LOSERS
Labour
Labour started the week with 46 Councillors. It was expected that the party would haemorrhage seats due to the national picture and recent financial problems that have seen the Council forced to borrow millions and raise Council Tax by 9.99 per cent last year.
Indeed the party did suffer major losses. Windhill and Wrose, which was a solid Labour seat, fell to Reform.
It led to Cllr Hinchcliffe, Cllr Ross Shaw and Cllr Liz Rowe all losing their seats.
Numerous other seats were lost across the District.
However, the party did make a clean sweep in the City Ward. The party had two Councillors, with the third seat belonging to the Bradford Independent Group. Despite polls suggesting the ward, which includes the City centre, could be swept by independents, Labour increased its hold in the ward.
They also reclaimed a seat in Bowling and Barkerend that had been held by Independents.
Greens
While not an awful result in itself – the Greens will have hoped for much more from the first day of results. The part lost all three seats in Airedale (formerly Craven), but did retain seats in its strongholds of Holme Wood and Bierley (formerly Tong) and Shipley.
But before the count there was talk that the party could have the most seats in the District, although not enough to form a majority.
Independents
The independent vote has surged in recent years, and was expected to continue in this election.
Some predictions suggested there could be more seats held by independents than any other party.
But after the first day Your Bradford Independent Group have lost seats. Day two, however, will see votes counted in areas where independents traditionally perform well.
WINNERS
Reform
There is no doubt that the biggest winners of the first day of counting were reform. They went from no Councillors to over 20 in just one day – with several more seats to count tomorrow.
They took a number of scalps on the way, including the Council leader and Regeneration chief. At the moment the party has the most seats on the Council, although tomorrow’s count – which includes a number of inner city areas, could again change the political make up.
Conservatives
While still a far cry from the days when the Conservatives were the biggest party in Bradford, the Tories did better than expected in many areas, including Airedale and Ilkley, where it was predicted they could lose all their seats to the Greens. However, the wards being counted tomorrow are less likely to return Tory candidates.
Areas the Liberal Democrats traditionally perform well in will be counted on Saturday.
Let’s see what the final day of election results brings.
