Middle East conflict should not dominate local elections, Tory leader argues

THE leader of Bradford’s Conservative group has argued that conflicts thousands of miles away should not dominate local elections.

Last week, Labour lost a number of Bradford Council seats to candidates standing on a pro-Gaza platform in the local council elections.

Despite the results denting the majority of her political rivals in Labour, Coun Rebecca Poulsen, Conservative leader in Bradford, argues the success of the independents “is not something that should be celebrated”, and that councillors in Bradford will have no influence on decisions made by political leaders in the Middle East.

But one councillor has hit back at the claim seats were won solely on Gaza, saying the Independents who won seats in Bradford campaigned on local issues, and not just international ones.

The Conservatives lost three seats in Thursday’s elections, meaning they now have just 13 representatives in the council chamber.

At the same time numerous Independent candidates won seats from Labour, taking their number to 13.

The Labour group retained its majority on the council – it now has 49 councillors – but the success of the independents saw high profile councillors such as Abdul Jabar (Lab, Great Horton), a member of the council’s leadership team, lose their seats to Independents.

The Greens now have 10 councillors in Bradford.

Little Horton Councillor Taj Salam was a Labour councillor until he defected to the Bradford Independent Group last year over Sir Keir Starmer’s handing of the Israel/Gaza conflict. In response to Coun Poulsen’s claims that the Independents ran on a “Gaza agenda”, he said: “A lot of the election leaflets might have mentioned Gaza...it is a big issue in the Asian community. It might have been responsible for some of the vote, but the candidates also highlighted local issues.”