KIRKLEES Conservatives are in talks with Labour and the Lib Dems about the make-up of the new council.
Last Friday's elections saw the party edge to a one-seat lead over Labour but they are still 14 seats short of the majority they need to take control.
Speaking at the count, Conservative leader Robert Light said: "It's been a good day. The Conserv
atives have gained two seats across the borough and the votes have gone up virtually everywhere, some by a massive amount.
"People are seeing that the local Conservatives have proved they are making a difference and see the great leadership of David Cameron on a national level."
He added that they hoped to form the next administration system for Kirklees and were positive from the renewed strength of receiving the largest number of votes in the most wards.
Kath Pinnock, leader of the Lib Dems in Kirklees, said she hoped they could work with the Conservatives as they had done last year.
She said: "The parties are as finely balanced as they have ever been and to me, all the parties ought to co-operate with each other for the good of the people in Kirklees.
"Last year, we worked with the Conservatives to get our ideas implemented and we hope to do the same this year.
"We worked with them on the young people initiative, to ensure facilities for young people were improved and they all had somewhere to go. We also worked on the safer roads initiative, to make roads safer for pedestrians and road users all over Kirklees and we worked on the green agenda, on the proposals for bio mass fuel.
"This has all been successful so far and it is important that political parties all carry on working together."
Mehboob Khan, Labour party leader for Kirklees, said they had been disappointed to lose two seats but they had bucked the national trend that saw Labour lose 334 council seats in England and Wales.
He said: "At a local level we lost two very good colleagues and hard working councillors in Dalton and Denby Dale but had a resounding victory in Heckmondwike. It shows that David Sheard and Steve Hall have been entrusted by the people of Heckmondwike as the ones people think can improve the quality of life for residents. Winning back the seat in Heckmondwike that we lost to Coun Exley is a step on our pathway back to becoming the largest party with overall control."
He said he hoped the Conservatives and Lib Dems would work with Labour in a pragmatic and sensible way when it came to key issues.
The full article contains 443 words and appears in Dewsbury Reporter newspaper.
