Voters across Leeds have headed to polling stations to have their say in the 2022 local elections.
A total of 35 city council seats are being contested this year, with the results due to filter through over the course of Friday afternoon.
Labour is currently in charge of Leeds City Council as the ruling party, holding a narrow majority of five seats at Civic Hall.
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One of the most tightly contested battlegrounds between the major parties could be Horsforth, where two seats are up for grabs this year.
The university suburb has returned both Tory and Liberal Democrat councillors over the last decade, though Labour also came within around 200 votes of taking a seat here in 2018.
Outside Lister Hill Baptist Church in the town on Thursday morning, residents from the surrounding streets explained who they’d crossed on the ballot paper, and why.
Among them was pensioner Sheila Dickinson, who is a swing voter but had decided to split her two votes between Labour and the Liberal Democrats this time around.
She says she recognised the name of one of the Lib Dem candidates as “someone who gets things done” and is also backing Labour because they were the only party who canvassed at her home during the campaign.
“A lady came to the door, we had a conversation and I felt like she really listened to me,” Sheila said.
“It sounds like a silly thing but it makes a big difference.
“My dad would be proud at least. He always voted Labour.”
Speed bumps along Brownberrie Lane are one of Sheila’s biggest local gripes and she believed they should be either “tidied up or done away with”.
She fondly recalled the era of Prime Minister Harold Wilson, who won four elections for Labour during the 1960s and 70s.
“He was great,” Sheila added. “He was very much for the working class and he didn’t make it all about him either.”
43-year-old Ben Whitehead is originally from Wilson’s hometown of Huddersfield, but has lived in Horsforth since 2009.
He said he’s voted Labour today, “because I can’t stand the Conservatives”, adding that both national and local issues came into his thinking.
“I voted Conservative when Cameron was in charge because I thought he was all right,” he said.
“But Boris Johnson’s just a complete liar. I don’t trust him. He’s a national embarrassment.
“I used to work for the council, and I feel like they (Labour) have done quite a good job. The austerity they’ve had to deal with has been passed down from the Conservatives.”
One 87-year-old voter, who gave his name as a Mr D Binns, had voted Conservative, having strayed from Labour because he didn’t like Jeremy Corbyn.
“I was a lifelong Labour voter until the last (General) Election,” Mr Binns explained. “I saw who might get in (to government) and I didn’t want that.”
Among the local issues Mr Binns was worried about was housebuilding in and around Horsforth, saying “they’re still cramming things into little spaces”.
He was also unhappy with the state of one of Leeds city centre’s most iconic statues and said he wanted the council to do something about it.
“Why haven’t they cleaned up the Black Prince?” he asked. “It looks a disgrace.”
Meanwhile, Rebecca Davies had already submitted a postal vote but came down to Lister Hill with her daughter, Bella, who was voting for the first time today.
Bella had one very good reason to do her civic duty, as her mum joked: “I told her if she didn’t vote she’d have to move out!”
Rebecca added: “At first, Bella said she might just vote in national elections, but I told her this is really important.
“Voting starts in your own community.”
Bella read up on election literature and leaflets put through their door before voting and said she’d decided to back Labour.
61-year-old Victor Lopes is originally from Portugal.
Although the sun was shining and the temperature bordering on short-sleeve levels, Victor quipped that today is actually more like a “December day” in his native Algarve.
He voted Labour, and said: “I don’t like the Conservatives. I don’t think they’re doing a good job. I don’t like Boris Johnson. He’s just like Trump in the US.
“He’s a clown.”
Mike Reid, who is 76, was also miffed with the government.
Referencing recent scandals that have engulfed Conservative politicians at Westminster, he said: “I don’t believe in Tory politics, Tory parties or Tory porn. I think they’ve pushed the boundaries of credibility to the absolute limit.
“I’m retired and I watch a lot of politics on TV so I take a lot of it in.
“I’ve read Boris Johnson’s book on Winston Churchill and I was nearly puking over the pages.”
Lifelong Conservative voter John Read was at odds with that view, however, and references allegations that Sir Keir Starmer breached Covid restrictions at an event in Durham a year ago – claims which the Labour leader denies.
Mr Read, 68, said: “Whether the rules were broken in Downing Street or in the North East, does it really matter?
“I think they’re all as bad as each other. You can’t trust any of them.
“I’ve voted Conservative out of habit, really.”
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