Galloway: I want to finish the job

A Labour stronghold for nearly 40 years, Mr Galloway changed the face of politics here after a "barn-storming" 19-day by-election campaign in 2012.

The Respect Party leader sensationally snatched the seat with a majority of 10,140 and 56% of the vote after Labour MP Marsha Singh retired due to ill health.

This year's election campaign has become increasingly bitter, with an allegation of assault, wars of words in public and across social media and a candidate stepping down before the contest had even begun.

Last week, Ukip claimed their candidate for neighbouring Bradford East was assaulted following a hustings event in Bradford West.

Labour's original choice to win back the seat, Amina Ali, stepped aside just four days after she was selected and replaced by mother-of-three Naseem Shah, known as Naz.

Ms Shah chairs a mental health charity and best known for campaigning on behalf of her mother, who was jailed in 1993 for poisoning her partner after years of suffering domestic violence.

She has spoken about her own forced marriage in Pakistan at the age of 15, which has become the subject of a series of clashes with Mr Galloway.

The Respect leader has accused her of perjury and lying about the marriage. Ms Shah says he has breached election law.

And Respect has suffered shake-ups within its own party.

In 2013, five Respect councillors in Bradford resigned and became independent, only for four of them to rejoin the party last month. A Labour councillor, Asama Javed, has defected to the party and is now standing for Respect in Halifax.

Speaking outside the Hanfia Mosque in Manningham, Mr Galloway said: "Three years ago, in a barnstorming campaign lasting just 19 days, we captured Bradford West with a massive majority and it really shook the political foundations because people had begun to regard with contempt the mainstream parties who are all the same, who make promises they don't deliver and who believe essentially in the same things with a centimetre or two of difference."

He added: "I'm confident I'll be returned for one more term in parliament because I need to complete the job I have begun.

"We've got to make sure that we don't slip back into the kind of one-party state mentality that existed here because that way lies complacency and even corruption."

Mr Galloway continued: "It's a general election. It's about choosing not just between parties but between individuals, characters, and I think I'm a larger-than-life character who has put Bradford politics firmly back on the map."

Bradford West is one of the poorest constituencies in the UK, and made up of six council wards: City; Clayton and Fairweather Green; Heaton; Manningham; Thornton and Allerton; and Toller.

Bradford is due to become the youngest city in Europe by 2020, with half the population under the age of 25, but the city's schools are some of the worst performing in England.

Mr Galloway said: "That should be a blessing, a city of young people. But, of course, if they're poorly educated, unemployed and therefore broke, that's a recipe for problems.

"So we need urgent action here on the schools and unemployment."

Ms Shah, speaking about Mr Galloway at a community centre in Clayton, said: "Our young people are some of the most engaged in politics, especially in Bradford West, because we have been so let down by this man."

She added: "There is a lot of anger and it is rightful anger, very rightful anger. We need that person out. Bradford deserves better."

She said one constituent had described Mr Galloway as being "like a circus": "You've come into town and you're going to leave town and that is what you are. And I think that sums it up for me."

She continued: "We do not need a one-man Messiah to tell us how to come and fix up Bradford. We as a community have our own solutions."

Ms Shah said she "absolutely" thought she would win the seat next month, adding: "I'm not in it not to win it."

She said there were stark inequalities between Bradford West and areas in the south of England, with more cuts per head and a lower-than-average full-time wage, and that the area had been "strangled" by the Conservatives.

The constituency, which contains both the city's hospitals, its university and its college, suffers from pockets of deprivation, high unemployment and schools and youth services that need improvement.

Ms Shah also pointed out the "huge entrepreneurial spirit" of constituents, with 99% of businesses in the area being small firms and needing support.

"I'll be fighting the corner for the people of Bradford West," she said. "I'm not just representing women, I'm fighting for the children, I'm fighting for older people, I'm fighting for people of different genders, different faiths, I'm fighting for communities and community is not I, it's we."

Mr Galloway greeted voters on the street like old friends, handing out his phone number and telling people to call him.

And as Ms Shah inspected a new playground, a car sounded its horn in support and its passenger shouted: "Vote Labour."

Voters are worried about education and unemployment but they also spoke of Bradford West's many positives.

Yasser Qureshi, 29, a local business owner, said: "Bradford West is unique. I feel like there's more culture here. It's very vibrant, it's a very young city. There's a lot of energy."

Sajid Khaliq, 36, from Manningham, added: "It's great to live in Bradford. I like the multi-culturalism, the vast culture around and the positive things trying to happen."

And Ishtiaq Ahmed, Respect councillor for the Manningham ward, said: "It's about trying to change people's perceptions, saying 'Look, we know Bradford West is one of the most diverse constituencies in Bradford, therefore we should celebrate that diversity by all working together.'"

:: There are eight candidates standing in Bradford West: Harry Boota (Ukip), George Galloway (Respect), George Grant (Conservative), Alun Griffiths (Liberal Democrat), Celia Hickson (Green), Therese Hirst (English Democrats), James Kirkcaldy (Independent) and Naz Shah (Labour).