It is very disappointing that several months after the local elections, the three main parties on Bradford Council have not managed to come to a better working accommodation than they have, and apparently remain deeply suspicious of each other.

The problems have been highlighted today by Bradford South MP Gerry Sutcliffe. He has expressed serious concerns about the worsening relationship between the parties, which he says has left the Tories and Labour not on speaking terms.

Earlier this year we expressed hopes that a hung Council would lead to a more democratic style of local government, with less time spent on party-political bickering and more on achieving a consensus view on the key issues. We felt that by working together, the main parties could do far more to help to solve the many problems facing Bradford than they could if they were wasting their energies on glaring at each other.

That has clearly, and sadly, not been the case - a situation not helped by Labour's decision to go into "official opposition".

Although steps have been made to improve the flow of information from the Council and the openness of some of the decision-making processes, we are still a long way from the transparent democracy that local residents demand and, indeed, have every right to expect.

Perhaps all local politicians will now take on board Gerry Sutcliffe's concerns and take a long, hard look at how the people of Bradford and district, who they represent and who pay their expenses, really want them to behave.