Council tax headache for election candidates
BBCEvery single seat is up for election at Bradford Council on 7 May.
Voters will choose three candidates in each ward to sit on the council which is currently run by Labour.
As the parties begin to ramp up their campaigns, the BBC invited the leaders of the main parties to a debate at Bradford College.
Top of the agenda was council tax, after consecutive rises of 9.99% and 4.99% - and how whoever is in charge will balance the books.
Susan Hinchcliffe, Labour - We said it would be a one-off increase, and it was
"So first of all we said it would be a one-off, and it was, and we're back down to the normal council tax increase.
"Secondly, we understand that it's really tough out there for people. That's why we have a council tax reduction for those people who need it.
"Over the last 10, 15 years in Bradford we saw massive cuts to council funding from national government, £350m, and that meant that council tax had to increase."
Matt Edwards, Green Party - We want to abolish fundamentally unfair tax
"The Greens want to abolish council tax because it's fundamentally unfair.
"You only have to look at places in central London.
"People are paying less council tax on much more valuable properties than they are in Bradford.
"The way council tax rises work is that it's putting the burden of fixing the council's finances on the residents."
Rebecca Poulsen, Conservatives - There were savings that needed to be done
"There were savings that needed to be done.
"I think if we go back in history it was because of the last Labour government that caused the financial problem.
"I think a lot of the problems in Bradford have been the financial mismanagement of the leadership of the council.
"We are the only political group in the recent budget that actually put forward a lower council tax increase."
Brendan Stubbs, Liberal Democrats - Council tax rises are going to stay
"Council tax rises are going to stay. But if people are going to vote for them and support them, then they need to be delivering the services and the change that they want to see.
"Unfortunately under Labour, and the Conservatives, the changes that people want to see are not being delivered.
"They're getting council tax rises that are not helping them improve their lives and the place where they live."
Ismail Uddin, Independents leader - Anything that gets passed in City Hall is political point scoring
"Effectively anything that does get passed in City Hall is political point scoring.
"Any ideas put across by cross-party colleagues will be put down for the sake of point scoring.
"They're not wrong in terms of council tax rises having to go up year-on-year.
"What we haven't addressed is that there have been overspends on certain projects in the city centre."
The other candidates...
Reform UK were invited at the same time as the other parties but did not send a representative to take part in Thursday's debate.
Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
