David Exley – Kirklees's first BNP councillor – lost his Heckmondwike seat to Steve Hall, with a majority of 194 votes.

Mr Exley, who had been a councillor for five years, said he was 'gutted' to be ousted.

He said: "I honestly thought I would pip Steve Hall to the post. I always knew it was going to be close but I didn't think it would happen.
"It was a bizarre result in Heckmondwike because nationally the Labour vote has gone down, but unfortunately here it has gone up.

"We did a lot of work up to the elections, but so did Labour and all credit to them for that."

Mr Exley said he would still like to carry on the work he had started in the town and would be working closely with Heckmondwike's remaining BNP councillor, Roger Roberts.

"I think some people would like to think I'll be disappearing but I won't be," said Mr Exley.

"I've made too many friends here and I've started too many things in Heckmondwike that I want to see through to fruition, like the major regeneration work, including the health centre and the library and information centre."

Speaking of his achievements while a councillor, Mr Exley said: "Getting elected in the first place was a big achievement.

"When I was elected it was a big wake-up call for Kirklees. People started to realise that Heckmondwike existed and there was a lot to be done in the town.

"Previously, councillors got in and then sat back and didn't do any work. When I was elected I didn't just talk about getting things done, I did the work."

Unsurprisingly, Heckmondwike's new councillor Steve Hall was delighted with the result.

He said: "I'm surprised! I've had an amazing team behind me, but we've got more hard work to do now. We'll be campaigning on a number of issues including the shortage of buses in Heckmondwike, especially for elderly people, and rubbish bin collections.

"It's been a traditional, old-fashioned style campaign – we worked very hard."

On the BNP losing its hold on the town, Coun Hall said: "A lot of work, especially regeneration in the town centre has been moving forward for many years, but the BNP takes all the credit for other parties' work and jumps on somebody else's bandwagon."

Batley and Spen Labour MP Mike Wood said: "I am delighted that all our hard work over the last 12 months has paid off and has resulted in Coun David Sheard having a colleague to work with in Heckmondwike.
"I am doubly pleased that we have removed not only a BNP councillor, but also the leader of the BNP group.

"It is important for us that we work with the people of Heckmondwike and not divide them – the BNP caused trouble between parts of the community.

"It was our number one target and I took personal charge of this, that we followed up our work from last year and we have succeeded in taking the seat from the BNP. We are determined that at the next election, we will remove the other BNP councillor, Roger Roberts."