LOCAL ELECTIONS: The party leaders' statements

YOUR LOCAL ELECTION CANDIDATES

The Government has imposed massive cuts on Bradford Council while increasing spending in the wealthiest parts of the country. 

Despite this, your Labour Council is providing leadership, protecting services, delivering opportunity and moving the district forward.

You can see the difference we’ve made. 

Westfield on the way, progress on the Odeon, city and town centres thriving. 

We’re tackling youth unemployment and investing in apprenticeships, manufacturing, infrastructure and homes across the district.

We’re increasing school places and keeping all Children’s Centres open.

We’ve invested £20m extra in social care and we’re delivering better housing for vulnerable people. What’s more, Council Tax is the lowest in West Yorkshire.

We’ll go further and faster on improving schools, deliver modern care and facilities for vulnerable people, invest more in our economy, provide good basic services you can rely on and new sports facilities.

Remember the decade of waste, decline and four per cent Council tax hikes under the Tories and Lib-Dems? Don’t let another coalition drag us back. Vote Labour for a Council you can trust to deliver leadership, honesty and fairness.

Labour investing for tomorrow, delivering today.

Vote Labour.

In May, the residents of Bradford district will have the chance to vote for an MP to represent them in Parliament and a local Councillor, to represent them on Bradford Council.

Many residents do not view the local council elections as very important when compared with the national ones, whilst still having strong feelings about the local services that they receive.

I would argue that at the moment it is very important for people to vote in the council elections.

eductions in government funding to councils has left people with very clear choices to make. 

Bradford District Conservatives are firmly of the view that the council still has enough funding to provide quality essential services, by modernising how they are delivered and removing waste.

Labour claim that this is not possible, whilst still squandering money on expensive non-essential pet schemes including union convenors’ wages etc. 

The only way to ensure that the council prioritises the services that are actually valued by local residents is to vote for the only political group with anywhere near enough councillors to influence the decisions taken by the council, which is the Conservative Group.

Our highest and most urgent priority for Bradford is raising educational standards. 

Thirty years of Labour control of education in Bradford, including a Labour Government Minister directing a £300 million contract with a private company and we are still at the bottom of national league table for standards. 

This is the biggest challenge facing the district. The Bradford schools’ budget is 25 per cent larger than it was in 2010 and an extra £87 million has been provided to help support the most disadvantaged children. 

Money is not the issue; it is one of leadership and a sense of urgency. Raising educational achievement needs high quality head teachers but also a willingness to provide real challenge where outstanding leadership is absent. 

We will support the creation of jobs and apprenticeships. Alongside economic opportunities people need a home. We support building homes that meet people’s needs not the current plan to release Green Belt for profit. Smaller properties built with a specification that does not need adapting as people become older will ease pressure on family homes and school places. 

I hope you will choose the Liberal Democrats.

Respect is the only strong voice against austerity and public cuts in Bradford, where the impact of further cuts in the next five years will be devastating for the district and will only push the disadvantaged and vulnerable even further into poverty. 

It is vital that we speak out strongly on the issue of public cuts as there may be £500 million of cuts imposed on Bradford over the next five years; if this happens then our district will be unrecognisable.

All three of the mainstream parties have failed Bradford over the last 20 years; this is most evident in relation to education with our education authority being third lowest in the national league tables.

Even despite this we are told that improvements are being made; there is a need for a radical solution if we are to give the most important people in our district, our young people, a real future of hope and opportunity. 

We propose that the ‘London Challenge’ team who were able to transform failing education authorities in London be brought up to launch the ‘Bradford Challenge’ to transform our schools. 

Unlike the other parties Respect has and will advocate for the issues of local people.

In politics, if you want change, you have to vote for change. Tens of thousands of Bradfordians have done so by voting Green in recent years. Now, for the first time, all residents of the Bradford district have the opportunity to vote Green. Our elected Green councillors have made a real difference to the politics of our district.

At our insistence Bradford Council is driving down energy consumption, investing in renewable energy and saving local taxpayers a fortune. 

Bradford’s new Woodlands Strategy is delivering 10,000 new trees each year that are literally greening our communities.

Our new Cycling Strategy, developed with Green support, has secured multi-million pound investments in new cycle ways that will help commuters to leave their cars at home.

In Shipley, represented by Green councillors for the past 15 years, pioneering new 20mph zones have slowed traffic and made our streets safer. The Green councillors have attacked the deep, unfair and unnecessary cuts imposed on Bradford’s budgets by the Conservative-led government and have fought to protect vital local services in the face the government’s failed austerity programme.

So, our message to Bradford is simple. Think differently and vote differently. Vote for a better, greener future.

Bradford Council suffers from the politics of the old system, politics that don’t benefit the people of the district, politics that are made to fit political persuasions, not the needs of the people.

Over a thousand children will not be going to their first-choice school in September. What is the Labour-led Council doing to correct this for the future? Well, the answer is quite simple: nothing, they have put swimming pools before education.

The Conservatives on the other hand are too busy with infighting to be an effective opposition.

Ukip believes education is a priority and the youth our future, we must do all in our power to correct this ridiculous situation.

Ukip will break the circle in Bradford by working with all who genuinely want to work for the benefit of the electorate and not party policy.

We need more money put into public services: police, NHS, ambulance and fire services. How long can we continue to ignore the elderly and infirm? It’s time for a fresh look at the finances of Bradford.

Remember this on 7th May - Ukip councillors work for you, not the party; we know who is the boss: YOU. Is that a refreshing change?

LOCAL ELECTIONS: WILL LABOUR BE ABLE TO RETAIN ITS OVERALL CONTROL OF BRADFORD COUNCIL? 

YOUR LOCAL ELECTION CANDIDATES