2026 Bradford Council local elections guide
An overview of everything you need to know about the upcoming all-out elections across the district on Thursday 7 May 2026 🗳️
For the first time in years, Bradford Council will be subject to all-out elections on Thursday 7 May 2026. It’s the result of boundary changes. That basically means that all 90 council seats are being contested across the entire district for the first time since 2004.
Usually councillors are elected for four year terms in thirds (30 per election councillors) over a three year period with no elections in year four (sometimes referred to as a fallow year).
This time around, instead of just one councillor being elected for a ward, three councillors will be elected in one go. The candidate bagging first place will get to serve four years, the runner-up will serve three years and the bronze medalist will serve just one year.
You can see how the district has tended to vote on a ward-by-ward basis for Bradford Council between 2019 and 2024 here. For one councillor’s take on the boundary changes, head here.
Elections are also taking place in other local authorities throughout West Yorkshire (with all-out elections in Calderdale, Kirklees and Wakefield, too), England, Scotland and Wales.
It’ll be the biggest set of elections since the 2024 general election, which took place separately to the local elections in July that year (local elections were held, as usual, in May). Even more so in fact with news that other local elections, which had been earmarked for postponement as part of the wider reorganisation of local government that is currently underway, will now go ahead.
To get you up to speed with everything ahead of the local elections in Bradford this year we’ve put together a bumper guide. Here’s what it covers:
A timeline for the local elections in Bradford
An overview of the current composition of the council
A breakdown of the current leadership
An overview of the leaders of the other parties
A breakdown of what the council does
A list of key issues
Key stats about the district’s wards
Key documents
Timeline for the local elections in Bradford
There are some key dates to be aware ahead of the 2026 Bradford Council elections, courtesy of The Electoral Commission:
Monday 20 April: deadline for being registered to vote (if you’re not registered, you can do it here)
Tuesday 21 April up to 5pm: deadline to apply for a postal or postal-proxy vote (see here for more)
Tuesday 28 April: deadline to submit application to vote by proxy (more info here) and to apply for free voter ID (if you don’t have the required ID, you can present a voter authority certificate instead. You can apply here)
Thursday 7 May, 7am–10pm: polling day – aka the day you get to vote
Essential information
Ahead of the election you’ll receive a polling card through the post with info on where your polling station will be …