23/05/2014 Look North (Yorkshire)

the smallest margins. That is all from us.

Good evening. All the votes have been counted and politicians are

assessing the impact of the local elections here in Yorkshire. The UK

Independence Party has made significant gains, especially in

Rotherham. Elsewhere, Labour has maintained its dominant position in

West and South Yorkshire, and taken overall control of Bradford council.

In North Yorkshire the Conservatives have kept control in Harrogate and

Craven, but have lost seats overall. But the Liberal Democrats have lost

the most seats. So, this is the picture; Labour have 430 councillors

` that's up one. The Conservatives have 148 ` that's down by seven. Lib

Dems have taken something of a beating, with 69 councillors ` down

by 18 ` and UKIP now have 17 councillors ` up 16.

beating, with 69 councillors ` down Other minor parties, including the

Greens and Independents, have 63 ` that's up by seven.

There were celebrations from Labour and the wind into the elections in

Bradford needing two extra seat for an outside majority. `` leading

into. UKIP cut the lead by taking a seat from Labour. In half a dozen

others it was within 50 votes of winning. Respect were smashed. None

of the ten candidates to put up came anywhere near winning. You come into

town, make empty promises and do not deliver on them. What do you expect?

People will see through that. The voters in Bradford West have seen

through that. George Galloway made a lot of promises and he has not

delivered. There were two other targets for Labour in West

Yorkshire. It came within a whisker of winning in Calderdale. With the

Conservatives picking up one seed from the Lib Dems, that left Labour

just one short of the full majority. `` one seat. To the

candidates have worked incredibly hard. I am incredibly pleased. It

has been incredibly hard work. The candidates that have won have got

the just reward. In Kirklees there was an extraordinary result. For the

first time in living memory, all of the parties retained all of the

seats they were defending, leaving Labour three short of a majority. I

would have preferred some victories. But I'm sure there are at least

three parties on the council have a chance of working together. If we

work together for Kirklees, we have got massive challenges in the next

couple of years, irrespective of the general election. We have to be

careful not to lose track of that. Our purpose is not to fight

elections. In Leeds, Labour consolidated the majority it already

holds. Jonathan David Pryor is elected the counsellor... In South

Yorkshire, before these elections, Labour had commanding leads in

Barnsley, rather, Doncaster and Sheffield. It still does. But UKIP

has clearly not the bit of the wind out of the sails.

Well, in a moment we'll hear more from our political editor, Len

Tingle, but first to the big story here in Yorkshire and that increase

in the UKIP vote. There have been 16 gains for UKIP. Nine of these seats

were just in Rotherham to add to the one that the party already had, with

three in Sheffield and two in Wakefield, one in Bradford and one

in Doncaster James Vincent has spent the day in Rotherham finding out why

UKIP has attracted such support. James Vincent. A big box of juicy

strawberries. The morning after the fright before for Labour in

Rotherham. Voters are not sure they like what Ed Miliband is selling.

Why did you vote UKIP? Just for a change. UKIP. You normally UKIP? No.

Immigration is the first thing in people's mines. This man knows it is

an awkward subject. Rotherham is full. We are getting too many of the

wrong people. The country itself, we cannot afford it any more. I think

the country is full up. When you say wrong people does that make you feel

bad? In a way. We just cannot afford it. Although Labour won the most

seats last night, they were beaten on her share of the vote. A big

worry ahead of the general election. UKIP got 44% of the vote. Labour

only got 41%. Labour made their own gains in this election but they are

losing support at home with traditional voters. I hope it is not

just a protest vote. I hope people think, I have voted once, and that

is it. UKIP thinks it is here to stay. It may be Westminster yet. I

think we may end up with three MPs in Westminster from Rotherham. Next

year's general election will tell us. Len Tingle joins me now from the

newsroom. Len, this was good news for Labour, but the big story of the

day was UKIP's surge in popularity. Let's put that in perspective. Those

seats by UKIP still leave it a much smaller party than liberal

Democrats, Labour or Conservatives. It is nowhere near power or a share

of power in any the nine district authorities in South and west

Yorkshire. Labour controls are majorities seven of them and runs

the other two as the biggest party. Clearly, Labour is still in a

dominant position in west and runs the other two as the biggest party.

Clearly, Labour is still in a dominant position in Western South

Yorkshire. Can UKIP continue this momentum into next year for the

general election? These were the last big elections before the

general election. We have got the European results to come. UKIP is

likely to take at least two of the seats across Yorkshire and the

Humber. I think Labour can take some heart from the street interviews

James Vincent did were some people were saying, yes, they think there

needs to be a kick up the backside for the major parties, and we will

vote for UKIP this time around. Maybe when we go back to the

important general election, they will revert to what has been their

traditional way of voting. UKIP will have to work hard to retain the

momentum that it has got this time. Police investigating the death of a

man in Leeds yesterday have tonight charged a man with murder. Officers

were called just before 3am to reports of a fight at the Citispace

apartment building near Regent Street. A postmortem examination has

concluded that 22`year`old Adam Ryder died from a single stab wound.

24`year`old Ashley Twist will appear before Leeds magistrates tomorrow.

Another man, who was arrested in connection with this investigation,

has been released on bail. After a long legal battle, it's been

confirmed that the remains of King Richard III will stay in Leicester

where they were found. The former king's bones were discovered under a

council car park two years ago. Descendants of the Yorkist King

wanted him buried in York Minster, and went to court to ask for a

public consultation. But the High Court ruled against them.

Obviously very disappointed with the outcome of this. But it is still

early days. We are going to think about it and make some decisions

over the weekend what we do next. I'm just really pleased that went to

court in the first place. And again, Richard is Richard of York. His

heart and soul lies in York even though his body is in Leicester.

Rugby league, and a couple of our teams were in action tonight. And it

was a disappointing evening for the Huddersfield Giants as they lost to

against St Helen's. This was their first try ` Larne Patrick crossing

in the 18th minute. But it wasn't enough to stop the Lancashire side

taking the points and denying the Giants a seventh successive win.

Leeds Rhinos were also in action. They beat Hull FC.

Now the weather. Some very unsettled weather tomorrow. Some very heavy

showers on the cards. Thundery, too. We will see an improvement through

the weekend. It is down to this area of low pressure. There is an

improvement on Monday. Heavy downpours this evening will clear

away, leaving us with a largely dry night. More cloud from the south

later. Not a cold night. Temperatures at 11 degrees. A lot of

cloud about tomorrow morning. It will be largely dry through the

morning but we will see outbreaks of showery rain pushing from the south.

It will be very heavy and thundery. Very persistent. A weather warning

for southern pasts of West Yorkshire.

you over to Peter Gibson and National forecast.

The bank holiday weekend weather is not looking user-friendly although

most places should get one decent day out of the three and some places

will get two. We have low pressure, and there will be showers around

over the next couple of days particularly. Sunshine breaking

through now and again. It will pick up temperatures. Tonight we have

rain. We have had thunderstorms in northern England. They are moving

into Northern Ireland. A lot of dry weather will stop misty in the

north-east. On Saturday, there is a mass of cloud and rain running

around the low pressure. There will be heavy rain. It will make slow

progress northwards. Never