Liberal Democrats celebrate gains in Bradford

2.46.15pm UTC (GMT +0000) Fri 4th May 2007

Liberal Democrats in Bradford are celebrating making gains in the local election from Labour in Manningham and Windhill & Wrose and successfully defending seats in Bolton & Undercliffe, Eccleshill and Idle & Thackley. They lost one seat to the Conservatives in Baildon.

The leader of the 14-strong group Cllr Jeanette Sunderland said,

" The gains in Manningham ( Cllr Qasim Khan ) and Windhill & Wrose ( Cllr John Watmough ) were excellent and I am very pleased that we increased our majority so substantially in Eccleshill ( Cllr Carol Beardmore). Holding two seats in Bolton and one in Idle have added to our success.

Cllr David Ward said,

" The Liberal Democrats also gained more votes than either of the other two parties in the new Parliamentary seat of Bradford East. The Conservatives are clearly in third place so they cannot be seen as likely challengers. The battle at the next General Election will be between the Liberal Democrats and Labour."