THE FINAL list of candidates for the Bradford Council local elections has been announced today, with Labour needing to win 18 out of the 30 seats up for grabs to retain its majority.

The party needs a total of 46 seats to remain in control at City Hall. It currently has 28 seats out of the 60 which will not be contested in the local councillor elections next month.

This means they require an extra 18 seats from the 30 which will be up for election on Thursday, May 7.

Last May, Labour clinched full control of Bradford Council by a whisker - the first time one party had held a majority for 15 years.

The Labour administration had previously had to rely on the support of other parties or independents to push through its plans.

The party won three seats and lost one, leaving it with a net gain of two.

The loser in last year's local elections was the Conservative party, with a net loss of two seats. The party lost Bowling and Barkerend and Thornton and Allerton to Labour, as well as a Craven seat to an Independent, while gaining Wharfedale from a retiring independent councillor.

This year, one of the three seats in all 30 of the Bradford district's wards will be up for grabs.

The Wyke and City wards have the most candidates, with seven candidates standing in each of those areas.

Meanwhile, the Shipley ward has the lowest number of contenders, with four vying for votes there.

Respect has seven candidates running across the 30 wards, while the Trade Unionists and Socialists Against Cuts has five. The British Democrats have one candidate running in Wyke.

Senior council figures will also do battle at the ballot box in a bid to hang onto their seats.

Liberal Democrat group leader Jeanette Sunderland will look to retain her seat in Idle and Thackley against four other candidates, while Ralph Berry (Lab), Bradford Council's executive member for children's services, will look to retain his seat as a Wibsey councillor against five others.

Susan Hinchcliffe (Lab), Bradford Council's executive member for employment, skills and culture, will go to the polls in Windhill and Wrose. She will compete against four others.

Meanwhile, Simon Cooke, deputy leader of the Bradford Conservative Group, will look to retain his seat in Bingley Rural.

Carol Thirkill (Lab) will look to retain her position as councillor in Clayton and Fairweather Green against Steve Cotterill (Lib Dem), Adrian Longthorn (Respect), Peter Mills (Con), Norma Russell (Green) and James Vasey (Ukip).

Kevin Warnes (Green) will look to hang onto his seat in Shipley, where he has been a ward councillor since 2004. He has previously been re-elected in 2007 and 2011.

He will be battling against David Servant (Con), Ben Pickles (Lab) and Christine Briggs (Lib Dem).

Votes will be cast on May 7, the same day as the General Election, with the count taking place the following day.

The full list is as follows; Keighley West: Cath Bacon (Lab), John Cole (Lib Dem), Nick Farrar (Green), George Firth (Ukip), Christopher Herd (Con).

Little Horton: Amjad Ali (Lib Dem), Nurjahan Ali (Green), Atif Khalil (Ukip), Sabiha Mehboob (Con), Taj Salam (Lab).

Manningham: Sameena Akhtar (Lab), Margaret Chadwick (Lib Dem), Mark Hudson (Ukip), Mohammed Khan (Con), John Robinson (Green), Mohammed Saliss (Respect).

Baildon: Joe Ashton (Lab), Barney Lerner (Lib Dem), Robert Nicholls (Green), Mike Pollard (Con), Alec Suchi (Ukip).

Bingley: Lynne Edgley (Ukip), Robert Higgie (Lib Dem), John Martin (Green), Mark Shaw (Con), Joseph Wheatley (Lab).

Bingley Rural: Simon Cooke (Con), Stephen Henry (Ukip), Kay Kirkham (Lib Dem), Andrew McCormick (Lab and Co-operative Party), Brian Newham (Green).

Bolton and Undercliffe: Omar Hussain (Lab), Wajid Jahangir (Con), Alex Newsham (Green), Lincoln Stead (Ukip), Michael Stelling (Lib Dem).

Bowling and Barkerend: Dale Deacon (Green), Susan Elliott (Lib Dem), Mohammed Jamil (Con), Brian Jones (Ukip), Imran Khan (Lab), Ian Slattery (Trade Unionists and Socialists Against Cuts).

Bradford Moor: Riaz Ahmed (Lib Dem), Wanda Andre (Ukip), Bob Cannell (Green), Sakhawat (Con), Zafar Iqbal (Lab).

City: Dawid Blahuszewki (Trade Unionists and Socialists Against Cuts), Sarah Deighton (Ukip), Shakeel Hussain (Con), Shakeela Lal (Lab), Shariq Mahmood (Respect), Tariq Mahmood (Lib Dem), Philip Somerville (Green).

Clayton and Fairweather Green: Steven Cotterill (Lib Dem), Adrian Longthorn (Respect), Peter Mills (Con), Norma Russell (Green), Carol Thirkill (Lab), James Vasey (Ukip).

Craven: Christopher Atkinson (No party name given), Val Carroll (Lab), Stuart Ebden (Lib Dem), Jack Rickard (Con), Janet Souyave (Green).

Eccleshill: Terry Pearson (Con), Vanessa Pilny (Green), Nicola Pollard (Lib Dem), Gill Thornton (Lab), Gregory Tidswell (Ukip).

Great Horton: Tariq Hussain (Lab), Hashim Kohan (Con), Owais Rajput (Ukip), Mary Slingsby (Lib Dem), Jason Smith (Trade Unionists and Socialists Against Cuts), Jonathan Thurling (Green).

Heaton: Halima Afza (Respect), Mohammed Amran (Lab), Jonathan Barras (Ukip), David Ford (Green), Mike McNally (Lib Dem), Abdul Qayyum (Con).

Ilkley: Ann Cryer (Lab), Brian Ford (Green), Paul Latham (Ukip), Michael Powell (Lib Dem), Martin Smith (Con).

Keighley Central: Kaneez Akthar (Lab), Zafar Ali (Con), Gerald Brooksbank (Lib Dem), Ian Dermondy (Ukip), Daisy Knight (Green).

Keighley East: Tom Herbert (Lib Dem), John Stevens (Ukip), Doreen Lee (Lab), Khalid Mahmood (Respect), Mark Startin (Con), James Whitaker (Green).

Idle and Thackley: Falak Ahmed (Con), Graeme Atkins (Lab), Garry Blackmore (Ukip), Andy Stanford (Green), Jeanette Sunderland (Lib Dem).

Queensbury: Lisa Carmody (Con), David Cooper (Green), Lynda Cromie (Independent), Jamie Illingworth (Ukip), Rosie Watson (Lab), Stacey Yeadon (Lib Dem).

Royds: Shauna Ann (Lib Dem), Colin Duke (Independent), Michael Hunter (Green), Frances Robertshaw-Thompson (Con), Angela Tait (Lab), Lois Wood (Ukip).

Shipley: Christine Briggs (Lib Dem), Ben Pickles (Lab), David Servant (Con), Kevin Warnes (Green).

Thornton and Allerton: Sue Duffy (Lab), Rob Hoveman (Respect), Helen Marriott (Green), Michael McCabe (Ukip), Clive Richardson (Con), Derek Riley (Lib Dem).

Toller: Chris Bem (Green), Amir Hussain (Independent), Amjad Hussain (Con), Sharaz Hussain (Respect), David Leeming (Lib Dem), Mohammed Nisar (Ukip), Fozia Shaeen (Lab).

Tong: Matthew Edwards (Green), Tess Peart (Lab), Bernie Pringle (Ukip), Edward Ward (Con), Kirsty Yeadon (Lib Dem).

Wharfedale: Cameron Herbert (Green), Bob Jones (Lib Dem), Ryan Preston (Trade Unionists and Socialists Against Cuts), Niccola Swan (Lab), Jackie Whiteley (Con).

Wibsey: Jack Alexander (Green), Ralph Berry (Lab), Brian Boulton (Lib Dem), Jasmine Grant (Trade Unionists and Socialists Against Cuts), Richard Sheard (Con), Jason Smith (Ukip).

Windhill and Wrose: Susan Hinchcliffe (Lab), Vi La (Ukip), Helen Love (Green), Claire-Marie Parr (Con), Gillan Thorne (Lib Dem).

Worth Valley: Kevin Campbell-Wright (Green), Peter Corkindale (Ukip), Mark Curtis (Lab), Rebecca Poulsen (Con), Alan Sykes (Lib Dem).

Wyke: Neil Craig (Independent), Sarah Ferriby (Lab), Kevin Hall (Lib Dem), Liam Kernaghan (British Democrats), Darren Parkinson (Green), Francesca Stefanyszyn (Con), John Worsley (Ukip).