{"id":565495,"date":"2026-05-04T11:01:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T11:01:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/565495\/"},"modified":"2026-05-04T11:01:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T11:01:11","slug":"itd-be-nice-to-get-a-clear-out-and-start-again-labour-facing-battle-on-both-fronts-in-the-city-where-it-was-born","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/565495\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018It\u2019d be nice to get a clear out and start again\u2019: Labour facing battle on both fronts in the city where it was born"},"content":{"rendered":"

Your support helps us to tell the story<\/p>\n

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.<\/p>\n

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.<\/p>\n

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.<\/p>\n

Your support makes all the difference.Read more<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019d be nice to get a clear out and start again\u201d, says John Varey.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think a lot of people are losing grip with the Labour Party<\/a>\u201d, the 59-year-old tells The Independent<\/a> at his florist\u2019s Blossoms in Bradford<\/a> city centre.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut they don\u2019t do themselves any favours\u201d, Mr Varey adds, before offering a theory about the modern-day Labour<\/a> Party and those it appeals to. <\/p>\n

\u201cSee, where they get the vote from is the people that are in the areas where it\u2019s a green belt, and the nice houses and the thatched roofs,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n

Labour can trace its roots back to this West Yorkshire city, back when it was a thriving mill town, booming in the wake of the industrial revolution.<\/p>\n

Driving along Leeds Road into the centre of Bradford, a mural illustrating the city\u2019s vital role in Britain\u2019s political history stands out.<\/p>\n

\"AA mural celebrating the centenary of the Independent Labour Party in Bradford (The Independent)<\/p>\n

Painted on the side of the city\u2019s Playhouse theatre in 1993, the mural marks the centenary of the establishment of the Independent Labour Party (ILP) on that site, following mass textile worker strikes.<\/p>\n

The ILP merged into the Labour Party in 1900, swiftly becoming a parliamentary force built on the ideas of Bradford\u2019s working classes. Whether the party remains true to that vein will go some way to determining how it performs in cities like this across England in local elections on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Mr Varey certainly won\u2019t be casting his vote for Sir Keir Starmer\u2019s party, and polls suggest many of his fellow Bradford residents won\u2019t be either.<\/p>\n

Bradford Council, which covers the city as well as villages and towns which surround it, has been controlled by Labour since 2014 but that could be about to change,<\/p>\n

Currently, 46 of its 90 councillors are from the Labour Party, 14 are Tory, 10 Green and 15 are independent, nine of whom sit as the Bradford Independent group. <\/p>\n

Latest figures from PollCheck suggest that Labour could lose 33 councillors, while Nigel Farage<\/a>\u2019s Reform UK could gain 17 and the Green Party could add 12, leaving the Greens the biggest party in a council without overall control. <\/p>\n

Asked who he might vote for on Thursday, Mr Varey won\u2019t be drawn: \u201cI don\u2019t want to say really, to be honest.\u201d<\/p>\n

What is clear though, is that he is unhappy about the state of this city, which has had its struggles, driven by losses of jobs in post-war deindustrialisation. <\/p>\n

\"BradfordBradford city centre (The Independent)<\/p>\n

The architectural grandeur of Victorian Bradford remains but, according to Mr Varey, the 19th century buildings are now a side show on streets which lack a variety of shops and are punctuated by empty units. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s nothing to entice people into the city centre because they don\u2019t want to get their nails done, they don\u2019t want to go to a bargain basement\u201d, he says. \u201cGive people a reason to come into the city centre.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bradford\u2019s fall from its industrial highs is mentioned by many in this city.<\/p>\n

Outside the Grade I-listed Wool Exchange, now a Waterstones branch, retired brick later John Wilkinson, 87, tells The Independent that Bradford has never recovered from deindustrialisation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was the textile city of the world\u201d, he says. \u201cThe Wool Exchange there, where they used to do all the dealing. Where did it go?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s all gone to China, Iran \u2013 it’s gone all over the world. It’s gone to pot.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou could stand in the centre of Bradford and just turn in a circle, and all you saw were chimneys and more chimneys.<\/p>\n

\"JohnJohn Wilkinson, 87, believes Margaret Thatcher could solve Bradford’s problems (The Independent)<\/p>\n

\u201cThat’s how many mills were here. And all these places here were thriving.\u201d<\/p>\n

Calling himself a \u201ctrue blue\u201d Conservative, Mr Wilkinson believes that one woman could fix the city\u2019s fortunes. <\/p>\n

\u201cMrs Thatcher, she’d sort them out\u201d, he says. \u201cThe lady, she should have been made Queen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Wilkinson will, perhaps unsurprisingly, be voting Conservative on Thursday but he was tempted by switching his vote for the first time – to Mr Farage\u2019s Reform.<\/p>\n

Whether it’s Labour or Conservative, it’s the same. We are beholden to London<\/p>\n

Marina Chapman<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was good, Farage. But now I’m getting a bit weary about what he’s going to do and what he isn\u2019t going to do.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe’s like the others – changing his mind, changing his mind, changing his mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

Either way, like Mr Varey, he wants change at Bradford City Hall. \u201cIt wants a fresh council,\u201d Mr Wilkinson says. \u201cSomebody with some push.\u201d<\/p>\n

Others are less convinced that a new administration could solve Bradford\u2019s problems, however.<\/p>\n

Prithpal Singh, 60, runs ice cream shop ICreams in the city centre and believes his job is only getting tougher amid problems seen up and down the country. <\/p>\n

\"PrithpalPrithpal Singh believes the city has a problem attracting footfall (The Independent)<\/p>\n

\u201cAt one time, believe it or not, people from Leeds used to come to Bradford\u201d, he tells The Independent. \u201cBradford used to be booming at one point. But now it\u2019s just changed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s got a lot of challenges like any other city in England\u201d, he adds, mentioning anti-social behaviour and a lack of public transport options. <\/p>\n

That combines to make a lack of footfall in the city centre the biggest challenge according to Mr Singh, who says it is increasingly harder to find business.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is probably one of the busiest places, but there\u2019s three businesses for sale on that street. One of them has been there for 35 years. So that just says a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Singh has voted Labour in the past, but has still not made up his mind who he will vote for this time, questioning whether it will make a difference when councils have been through years of funding cuts and are operating on smaller budgets. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat can they do if there’s only a certain amount of money that’s there to play with?\u201d, he asks. \u201cWhat are they going to be able to do?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DorisDoris Tindale and Marina Chapman in Bradford city centre (The Independent)<\/p>\n

That view is shared by Marina Chapman, 78, who moved to Bradford from Colombia with her cousin Doris Tindale, 72, in the 1970s.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s a difficult job for the council\u201d, she says. \u201cEvery government, whether it changes, it’s still the same mechanism behind it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether it’s Labour or Conservative, it’s the same. We are beholden to London.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":565496,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-565495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=565495"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565495\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/565496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=565495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=565495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=565495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}