BARRY GIBSON asks if independents will benefit from the widespread anger at candidates from all political parties.

HE may not have an army of party activists, but Terry Lyons still thinks he’s favourite to win a seat on Kirklees Council.

The veteran independent has been pounding the streets of Honley, Meltham and Brockholes since the snow-bound weeks of January in an attempt to win back the seat he lost in 2008.

“I’ve been working like hell since the atrocious weather at the start of the year, delivering 7,000 cards and 7,000 leaflets around the Holme Valley North ward,” said the 67-year-old Meltham man.

Mr Lyons served on Kirklees from 2004 to 2008 and has been on Meltham Town Council on and off since the 1980s. He said: “I’ve got name recognition – I think I’m the best-known of all the candidates.”

Mr Lyons is confident of victory – despite having just two helpers, wife Christine and friend Stephen Green. He said: “It’s going good to excellent and I believe I will win.”

Hazel Spencer, independent candidate in Newsome, doesn’t have such high ambitions.

“I don’t think I can win but I hope to get a few votes,” she said. “I’m doing this as a protest.”

Mrs Spencer, who lives on Spring Grove Street, believes the Springwood area has been overlooked by Kirklees Council.

Along with her sister Susan Cichockyj and neighbour Ursula Hancock she has delivered 2,500 election leaflets in Springwood.

Mrs Spencer said: “This is a deprived area but we don’t get the funding that places like Thornton Lodge and Fartown get. We can see the town hall from here but we don’t get anything from it.

“We want a community centre and a Sure Start centre here.”

Independent candidates are also contesting the General Election, which takes place on the same day as the Kirklees poll on May 6.

Clr Khizar Iqbal has dozens of activists helping him in his effort to spring a major surprise in the Dewsbury contest.

The Thornhill Lees man is third favourite to win the seat, ahead of the Lib Dems and the BNP.

Clr Iqbal left the Conservatives last year after losing out in the party’s selection process for the Dewsbury seat to Simon Reevell from Beverley.

He said: “I wanted the Conservative Party to pick someone local – not necessarily me, there were other local councillors who were also turned down.

“Dewsbury has not had a local MP for 50 years which is one of the reasons the town has been neglected.”

Clr Iqbal, who represents Dewsbury South on Kirklees, has been campaigning for the Parliamentary seat since last July and has a team of around 50 activists, including former Conservative council candidate Jonathan Scott, who is his campaign director.

Clr Iqbal, who is campaigning to protect Dewsbury Hospital and regenerate the town centre, believes he will benefit from voters’ disillusionment with political parties.

He said: “The people are absolutely fed up with the Conservatives and Labour who take people for granted and don’t deliver.”

Two former Conservatives are also standing as independents in Calder Valley.

Tim Cole was Conservative deputy leader of North Yorkshire County Council from 1996 to 2001.

He said: “I was canvassing in Brighouse earlier this week and people were telling me that they think the three parties are all the same.

“People are confused and they’re looking for a credible alternative.”

Barry Greenwood is also standing as an independent in Calder Valley. He was a Conservative councillor on Calderdale from 1979 to 1984.

Mr Greenwood said: “I fell out with the Conservatives during the John Major regime when I realised that everything was controlled from the South.

“I want to get rid of party politics, it’s time it ended.”