Elections: Labour's chief ousted in Bradford

Councillor Ian Greenwood lost his Little Horton seat after three recounts to Respect's Alyas Karmani.

Respect also gained the Manningham, City, Bradford Moor and Heaton wards, a significant achievement but short of the eight seats predicted by George Galloway.

Speaking after his defeat, Mr Greenwood said he did not think the result meant Respect now held the balance of power in the city.

He said he thought the key to the party's success was Mr Galloway coming to the city and energising a mass of youngsters.

"He's made promises that I hope that he can keep but I doubt that he can," he said.

Mr Greenwood said he feared Mr Galloway's energisation would not last and Bradford would be left with a "generation of disenfranchised and alienated young people."

Mr Galloway said he boycotted the count following a dispute with the council over how many passes Respect were allowed.

Speaking at his campaign HQ, he said: "By anyone's calculation it's been a fantastic night for Respect.

"We took seats off all three of the mainstream parties.

"We took seats in Bradford West, my constituency, but also outside of Bradford West."

Before the result, no party had overall control in Bradford and Labour ran the authority as a minority administration.

On the night, Labour increased its number of councillors from 43 to 45, one shy of an overall majority meaning it will need the votes of one other member to give it a majority.

The Tories and Lib Dems each finished the night with three fewer seats, on 24 and eight seats respectively, while the Greens retained their three seats.

Five seats went to independents, an increase of one.

Meanwhile Bradford joined Coventry, Nottingham and a number of other cities in rejecting the idea of an elected mayor.

The referendum saw voters reject the move by 66,283 (53.2 per cent) against to 53,949 (43.3 per cent) in favour, with 4,314 rejected ballots. The turnout was 37 per cent.