We are an active branch, whose main role is to campaign for our Labour Councillors at ward level elections, and to support them in office.

We are very fortunate to have a full list of Labour Councillors in Keighley East, and we are honoured that Councillor Doreen Lee is continuing in her role as Bradford’s Lord Mayor for a second year. Malcolm Slater is a very experienced and committed Councillor with a deep knowledge of the local area, and Councillor Caroline Firth has made a most impressive start to her political career as a campaigner on local issues, with a firm grasp of the detail as well as of the larger picture.

The Keighley East Branch also plays a part in specific campaigns and activities.  We have helped the AVAI (Aire Valley Against Incineration) group to oppose plans for citing a damaging industrial incineration plant in our ward, kept an eye on the plans for privatisation at Airedale General Hospital, and assisted local food banks, which have sadly become a feature of life in these times of austerity.

We have usually met monthly, alternating Mondays and Wednesdays, in the Labour Party’s Bob Cryer House in Keighley, and these gatherings have had to be replaced by remote meetings on Zoom, scheduled from October 2020 onwards. Our Councillors report back to us at every meeting.  We also alternate business and discussion meetings, so that we can try and keep abreast of some of the larger policy issues as well as dealing with immediate practical arrangements.

Through our links to the Keighley and Ilkley Constituency Labour Party and to Labour’s national organisations, we aim to make a contribution to rebuilding Labour so that it can replace our current incompetent, chaotic and corrupt Tory government.