TEN councillors in Bradford West have accused the Labour Party of making a "confusing" statement following its decision to strip local members of the right to choose election candidates.

The Labour councillors said they had not been officially told why the Party was imposing candidates in six wards and had only seen a statement made by the regional party, published by the Telegraph and Argus last week.

In a letter on Saturday to the Party's National Executive Committee, the councillors wrote: "We are writing to you as Councillors of the Bradford West constituency to express our concerns around the decision to impose candidates for the 2016 local elections.

"We first heard this news on the local newspaper website on Tuesday January 19 and at the time of writing this letter we have received no correspondence from anyone in the party explaining the reasoning behind the decision.

"The statement made by the regional party states that the decision was made 'after receiving allegations surrounding the process of selecting candidates in wards of the Bradford West constituency to contest the May 2016 local authority elections'.

"We find this statement confusing especially in light of the fact that shortlisting and selection processes have yet to commence in the constituency."

The councillors explained the Party had made progress in the constituency, which was previously held by George Galloway (Respect) until his defeat by Labour's Naz Shah in May last year.

The letter added: "As locally elected representatives we take great pride in the progress we have made in the constituency over the past five years which started in 2010 with an increased majority for our MP along with local election gains.

"These local gains continued in both 2014 and 2015 where we have made clean sweeps across all wards and won all seats.

"We would respectfully ask, out of courtesy, for a full explanation of the NECs decision to impose candidates in our constituency along with an explanation of the specific allegations without having to read in the press first.

"We are deeply concerned that the voice of our membership is being silenced and to this end we would ask the decision to impose candidates in Bradford West is overturned.

"We would welcome an urgent meeting with representatives of the NEC to further explain our concerns on behalf of our constituents."

The letter is signed by councillors Sameena Akhtar (Manningham), Nazam Azam (City), Sue Duffy (Thornton and Allerton), Richard Dunbar (Thornton and Allerton), Sinead Engel (Clayton and Fairweather Green), Shabir Hussain (Manningham), Shakeela Lal (City), Nussrat Mohammed (Heaton), Michelle Swallow (Clayton and Fairweather Green) and Carol Thirkill (Clayton and Fairweather Green).

A spokesman for the Yorkshire and Humber Labour Party declined to comment, referring the Telegraph & Argus to a statement issued last week, which said: "After receiving allegations surrounding the process of selecting candidates in wards of the Bradford West constituency to contest the May 2016 local authority elections, The NEC of the Labour Party has today ruled that the selection of candidates in the six wards that make up the Bradford West constituency will be made by a panel of the NEC.

"Party members continue to select candidates in all other parts of Bradford."