Before the election the council had 55 Labour, 4 Conservative, 3 Independent and 1 Liberal Democrat members.[3] Each of the Labour and Conservative parties stood candidates in all 21 wards, along with 11 Liberal Democrats and 15 other candidates from various parties.[3] Labour were defending 20 seats in the election, with two seats being contested in Pontefract South due to the resignation of a councillor,[4] while the other 2 seats were held by independents.[3] One of the 2 independents who was defending his seat in Wakefield South was Norman Hazell, a former leader of the Conservatives in Wakefield, who had defected from the party in 2001.[3]
During the campaign an investigation was started by West Yorkshire Police after allegations of fraud in South Kirkby ward.[5] Here over a quarter of the 900 postal vote applications had been found to be invalid.[5]
Election result
The Labour party remained firmly in control of the council and were pleased with only losing 2 seats in the election.[2] The Conservatives gained Wakefield Rural, while the Liberal Democrats took Ossett.[2] Meanwhile, both independents held their seats, with Norman Hazell's defence of Wakefield South as an independent being seen as a surprise result.[2] Overall turnout in the election was 23.5%.[2]