As Labour activists head to the doorsteps in the final few weeks prior to all out local elections in May, I headed to Bradford to meet with candidates and assess the mood on the ground.
During fourteen years of austerity under a Conservative government in Westminster, local authorities like Bradford were asked to absorb deep financial cuts while demand for public services continued to rise. Even through these challenging years, Labour councillors and local candidates across the city believe they achieved a record to defend. They can point to visible local improvements, a still-functioning council in punishing circumstances, and a city preparing to step into the national spotlight through its role in cultural regeneration.
But on the doorstep this spring, confidence is in short supply.
Instead, Labour candidates across Bradford describe an election campaign unlike any they have fought before: fragmented, volatile and increasingly shaped by voters who want to register frustration with politics itself. In different wards, that frustration is finding expression through Reform UK, the Greens, and independent candidates campaigning heavily on Gaza.
For Labour campaigners trying to appeal to a coalition that once came more naturally, the result is a political landscape that feels more unstable than the data suggests.
I met with Ben Pickles, Labour’s candidate in Bingley East, to discuss his experience of campaigning in the 2026 local elections.
Bingley East was under Conservative control for two decades until 2018, and Pickles says the political mood has changed again. The he believes the traditional Tory vote has migrated into Reform.
On the doorstep, that creates a different kind of contest. Rather than a straightforward Labour-versus-Conservative fight, candidates now face what Pickles sees as a splintering of opposition politics. Reform attracts disillusioned former Conservatives, Greens are carving out space in neighbouring areas, and independents continue to benefit from anger directed at the Labour party nationally, in particular the government’s response to the conflict in Gaza.
This combination of factors in Bingley East, and across Bradford as a whole, makes reading the electoral race particularly difficult. The “feeling doesn’t match the numbers,” Ben told me, as I enquired into polling data.
Labour’s voter data still classifies a resident as persuadable if a conversation is not hostile. But in a campaign where many voters remain undecided until late, that distinction matters less than it once did. A polite conversation is no longer a reliable sign of support, especially if they have not confirmed on the door step they will be voting Labour in 2026.
Pickles says one of the defining features of this campaign is that real-life conversations are often more nuanced than online politics would suggest. Voters may support Labour’s intentions locally while expressing doubts about Keir Starmer or frustration with the national party. So praising the record of the national government can sometimes weaken a local conversation rather than strengthen it.
That presents a strategic problem for Labour candidates who feel they have a strong local case to make but cannot fully rely on the strength of the party label to carry it.nInstead, the campaign has become intensely local.
In Bingley, residents talk about the closure of the local swimming pool, concerns that investment flows disproportionately into Bradford city centre, and whether their own town is being overlooked. Policies such as bus franchising, championed regionally by West Yorkshire mayor Tracy Brabin, can cut through because they feel tangible. So can Labour’s message around civic renewal, from local pride funding to Bradford’s year as UK City of Culture, an achievement local campaigners like Pickles believe Labour played a significant part in delivering.
The challenge is persuading voters that local politics can still matter in an election increasingly dominated by anti-establishment sentiment. That same pattern is also visible elsewhere in the district.
Ralph Berry, who has represented Wibsey and Odsal since 1991, describes this as the most difficult campaign of his long political career.
“The most challenging election I’ve ever run in,” he says.
Berry’s politics are rooted in what he described as ‘old school’ politics. A proud “localist”, Ralph spent time talking to me about the benefits of campaigning on both practical and highly visible issues. His campaign conversations centre on roads, pavements, housing and public safety – the kind of granular issues that rarely trend online but still define whether residents feel represented.
A bollard being installed to protect a pedestrianised street can become a feature of campaign literature. So can cleaner air. Bradford’s clean air measures, controversial when introduced, are now being cited as evidence of falling respiratory illness among children in some communities. Berry believes those are the kinds of achievements that local candidates can still credibly own.
But he also argues that Bradford Labour is trying to defend that record in circumstances few councils could have navigated easily.
Years of austerity left local authorities carrying greater responsibilities with fewer resources. Rising homelessness, mounting pressure on social housing, shortages in social care and growing demand for children’s services all pushed the council toward crisis.
“Bradford came close to going under,” Berry says. “We’ve been literally hollowed out.”
Become a friend of LabourList and join our community. Our friends support our vital non-factional work and get access to exclusive content and events.
For him, the political consequence has been what he calls a “politics of poverty”, where worsening economic insecurity creates fertile ground for grievance-based politics. Here, parties that offer anger can often compete more easily than parties defending administration.
That is where Labour’s electoral challenge in Bradford becomes broader than a single council.
In Bradford, I was told of two distinct threats: independent candidates mobilising around Gaza in some communities, and Reform capitalising on disillusionment in others. Together with the Greens in selected wards, they form what some Labour candidates privately describe as an anti-establishment triangle. Different parties with different voters, but a shared message: Labour is the establishment now.
And unlike previous elections, those challengers are becoming organisationally sharper.
Berry notes that Reform’s campaigning infrastructure, particularly its centralised digital systems, has in some cases outpaced Labour’s local tools. Some candidates are learning digital campaigning for the first time while facing opponents who can coordinate quickly through platforms.
At the same time, Labour’s own activist base has been strained through what I was told could be a toxic political climate, with abuse directed at local candidates. Furthermore, shrinking local membership for Labour has made recruitment of candidates harder. In some wards, finding people willing to stand at times became a challenge in itself.
Despite challenges along the way, Labour candidates and activists are still hitting the doorsteps daily to have the necessary conversations that remain central to the party’s local campaign. But, these conversations are only considered to be effective if they are local enough to resonate.
In this sense, Berry explains how the hyper-local approach seeks to deal with challengers from the independent candidates trying to turn the conversation to devastating humanitarian issues happening on the other side of the world.
“Local Government can’t solve the middle east crisis but can clean your streets.” he says.
Subscribe here to our daily newsletter roundup of Labour news, analysis and comment– and follow us on TikTok, Bluesky, WhatsApp, X and Facebook. You can also write to our editor to share your thoughts on our stories and share your own. The best letters are published every Sunday.
Labour candidates are not simply trying to persuade voters their record means they deserve another term. They are trying to reassert what local government is for in an era when many voters increasingly use council elections to send messages about national or international politics.
Pickles says he remains “very cautiously optimistic.” Berry believes Labour can still hold ground if voters focus on delivery over protest. But neither wishes to speak with any certainty.
For Labour, this election is no longer just about defending control of a council. It is about proving that local competence can still compete against fragmentation, grievance and a general distrust in politics. While Bradford is just one city in the North of England Labour will be hoping for a positive result in, the story here offers insight into wider issues for Labour both in relation to the party’s identity and strategy moving forward.
- SHARE: If you have anything to share that we should be looking into or publishing about this story – or any other topic involving Labour– contact us (strictly anonymously if you wish) at [email protected].
- SUBSCRIBE: Sign up to LabourList’s morning email here for the best briefing on everything Labour, every weekday morning.
- BECOME A FRIEND: If you enjoyed this, why not consider becoming a Friend of LabourList? Help sustain our journalism, and of course Friends do get benefits…
- PARTNER: If you or your organisation might be interested in partnering with us on sponsored events or projects, email [email protected].
- ADVERTISE: If your organisation would like to advertise or run sponsored pieces on LabourList‘s daily newsletter or website, contact our exclusive ad partners Total Politics at [email protected].
More from LabourList
‘The Community Empowerment Bill is quietly shifting power from Westminster to local people’
‘Domestic abuse laws are falling behind technology’
More than half of Labour members backed assisted dying bill, poll reveals