A "WAVE of anti-Boris Johnson sentiment" washed over Bradford, as Labour maintained control of the council but the Green Party also performed well, winning three seats.
Labour won seats in Conservative strongholds of Bingley and Queensbury and won Eccleshill from the Liberal Democrats.
While the Green Party won seats in Shipley, Tong and Craven and just narrowly missed out on Ilkley and Ben Rhydding, which was reclaimed by the Conservatives.
READ MORE: Bradford local election results 2022: As it happened at the counts
"I was pleased with the overall result and I thank the people of the district for voting for us this year," said Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe (Lab, Windhill and Wrose), Labour leader of Bradford Council.
"It shows that we are serving and appealing to the whole of the district winning seats in Bingley and in Queensbury for the first time in a long time. Eccleshill is again a seat we've not held in recent memory.
"We had excellent candidates in all these seats who were already working hard for residents and deserved their success."
Cllr Matt Edwards (Green, Tong) said: “We’re now the second largest Green group in Yorkshire and the Humber. Our vote share nearly doubled in a lot of places.
“People we spoke to also feel they have been taken for granted by the Labour Party. Areas like Tong feel they have been left behind.”
READ MORE: Bradford local election 2022: Full list of results for every ward
"It was fairly mixed results for us," said Cllr Rebecca Poulson (Cons, Worth Valley), leader of the Conservative Party. "We were net one councillor down, but we have three new councillors joining the group.
"We were disappointed to lose the Craven ward. Rebecca Whitaker was one of our hardest working councillors."
"We were disappointed to lose Eccleshill," said Cllr Jeanette Sunderland (Lib Dem, Idle and Thackley), leader of the Liberal Democrats. "There was a wave anti-Boris (Johnson) voting across the district and it benefitted Labour the most."
"On the doorstep, people did raise the behaviour of Boris Johnson frequently," said Cllr Hinchcliffe. "He's set a new low bar for politics nationally and the people I was speaking to on the doorstep were quite dismayed. They don't trust him to tackle the cost of living crisis which risks overwhelming our country."
"I think there was a bit apathy with all national politicians, including Keir Starmer," said Cllr Poulson. "I think it had an impact on the low turnout.
"It's up to us as local councillors to win the trust of our constituents."
"Turnout was down," added Cllr Sunderland. "Two out of three people didn't turn up, which was disappointing.
"There was talk about what the Prime Minister did, but it should have been about local services.
Going forward, Cllr Poulson said the Conservatives will be closely scrutinising children's services in Bradford and the Clean Air Zone, which she said has been "highly unpopular".
Cllr Sunderland also spoke about children's services, saying: "The children's services have been taken away from the council. Children and young people have been let down.
"There's a lot of work to do and we'll continue to be incredibly busy in our local communities."
Cllr Hinchcliffe added: "We're very ambitious for the whole district with big regeneration initiatives coming to fruition over the next couple of years. But of course there's nothing beats hard work locally and serving our residents well.
"Labour councillors understand that and are focused on doing their best for people in difficult circumstances.
"It's why we've invested more in street cleansing for example in spite of the national austerity that all councils have faced over the last 12 years.
"The country might be chaotically led but here in Bradford district, what we can do for our residents is give them a great place to live which they can be proud of."
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