‘We have let them come on to our ground’: Labour fights off Green gains in Leeds

‘There’s no question these are going to be difficult elections,’ says Powell, Labour’s deputy leader. Photograph: Joel Goodman/The Guardian

On the wide streets around Leeds’ Roundhay Park, Labour canvassers have built up a considerable step count just to walk between each of the stone-built mansions in one of the city’s most affluent suburbs.

Lucy Powell, Labour’s deputy leader, is with activists in the sunshine admiring the manicured lawns and window-box pansies. This is one of the safest wards for Labour in Leeds, with graduates, doctors, lecturers and small business owners.