Dewsbury election candidate's shock as placards removed and set on fire in the street

Tanisha Bramwell, who is standing as an independent candidate in Dewsbury West at the Kirklees Council elections

Tanisha Bramwell, who is standing in Dewsbury West, says the sabotage was witnessed by a local resident.

She has now made a formal complaint to Kirklees Council’s electoral team, which in turn has referred the incident to the police.

Other thefts in the area have also been reported.

Election candidate Tanisha Bramwell affixes a sign as part of her campaign. Some signs have been taken down, with one set on fire.

It is illegal to tamper with election materials.

Miss Bramwell and her team were out late on Tuesday night (April 20) putting up placards in Ravensthorpe.

Some were later removed on Heckmondwike Road, Huddersfield Road and North Road.

She said a resident had seen four men take a sign off the pole and set fire to it – even filming themselves in the process.

“They have done that blatantly," she said.

“We don’t have access to a big budget so we don’t have a lot of banners. That means we put them up strategically in certain places, so I know which ones have gone.”

Miss Bramwell said she was not prepared to speculate who the culprits could be or which party they might support.

“I am not accusing anybody but I’ve made it known to the council for the purposes of transparency. I’ve reported it to the council and they have reported it to the police.”

A Kirklees Council spokesperson said: “We have been made aware of reports of the removing and damaging of election materials and have reported it to West Yorkshire Police.”

Miss Bramwell is hoping to unseat Labour’s Mussarat Pervaiz, who won in 2016 with a mighty 3,164 vote majority.

The other candidates in Dewsbury West are Simon Cope (Green), Basharat Rafiq (Con), John Rossington (Lib Dems) and Emma Stirling (Yorkshire Party).