First time councillors have spoken of their pride at being elected.
The highest profile win was that of Nell Griffiths, a former saleswoman who has never worked in politics before.
She will be taking up the Colne Valley seat after a narrow 94 vote victory over Lib Dem leader Nicola Turner.
Clr Griffiths said she was shocked to have taken the seat, in scenes reminiscent of Thelma Walker’s surprise defeat of former Colne Valley MP Jason McCartney.
She said: “I’m very surprised to have won, given what I was hearing on the doorstep.”
She added: “Nicola will be a hard act to follow. She’s been very active in the ward and supported a lot of people and done a lot of good things.
“I’m going to set out to do the same, to represent all the people of the Colne Valley to the best of my ability.”
Clr Griffiths said her focus would be living up to her strong Labour beliefs and resisting the privatisation of health and schools.
In Golcar, teacher and trade unionist Richard Murgatroyd is the new face for Labour, having defeated Lib Dem Andrew Marchington.
He paid tribute to his predecessor.
“Andrew was a great councillor – it’s absolutely nothing personal.
“The reason why we won was we stood on a really straightforward message.
“We said to the people of Golcar, our council services have been savagely cut, there’s worse to come, this is your chance to make a really clear statement that enough is enough.
“There’s absolutely no reason why Kirklees Council should not be properly funded.
“It really resonated with a lot of people.”
Clr Murgatroyd, who taught at New College and now at Greenhead College, said: “Local government in this country faces tremendous challenges, mainly due to funding.
“We’ve got to do our best to protect the most vulnerable in society and raise the quality of the services we offer.
“I’m keen to see what we can do in creating sustainable grassroots economies from the ground up.”
Another new face is Clr Alison Munro, who won Almondbury for the Lib Dems despite fierce competition from Labour, who sent shadow defence secretary Emily Thornberry to campaign in the ward.
Clr Munro, a former solicitor who has been a member of Kirkburton Parish Council for a number of years, said: “I’m extremely happy, I just kept going, knocking on doors, trying to get round as many people as we could.
“It’s unbelievable, I thought it was going to be a lot closer.”
She said one of her focuses was creating a neighbourhood plan and protecting Almondbury’s green spaces from over-development.
In Denby Dale, another parish councillor stepped up.
Billy Jewitt held the seat for the Conservatives following the retirement of Jim Dodds.
An ex-builder, Clr Jewitt said he was concerned about over development in the borough.
“Traffic is piling up so what’s it going to be like when we’ve got all these new houses?” he said.
“We need housing, but they don’t think about the schools, doctors, sewers and so on.”
