New party announces local election candidates after political rift

Tuesday, 27 January 2026 17:59

By Charlotte Hall

Bury’s newest party will be putting forward several candidates in the upcoming local election after a political rift tore the Conservative group apart. Together for Bury will be represented by three councillor hopefuls in Pilkington Park, Bury West and Tottington.

The contenders include the group’s leader Russell Bernstein, who will be defending his spot in Pilkington Park. Coun Bernstein quit as leader of the Tory group last summer, along with three other councillors, after a bitter row with the Bury Conservative Association.

The dispute began after coun Bernstein was deselected as the Pilkington Park candidate by the Tories ahead of the May 2026 elections. The association had also instigated disciplinary proceedings against him over accusations of ‘bullying and harassment’ – which the sitting councillor has vehemently denied.

Coun Bernstein has since suggested the row was also linked to a falling out with a former MP.

The political clash left Bury Council with just five Conservative members. The drop made independent group Radcliffe First, who have eight members, into the biggest opposition group on the Labour-led council.

Now coun Bernstein will stand under the banner of his new ‘community-focused’ group, Together for Bury. He said the four-councillor party is pooling resources into the areas where he believes the new independents could gain seats.

The group will mount campaigns in Bury West, where former Mayoress Carol Bernstein will make a bid for the seat of the current Conservative Deputy Leader, Jackie Harris. And candidate Greg Keeley will run to replace Independent Yvonne Wright in Tottington.

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, coun Bernstein said: “As a party made up of people from the conservatives we feel the best thing is to keep the focus on local issues, and not get tied up in national issues that local government have no control over. We’re campaigning as a group who wants to work hard for our community, doing what we can in partnership with other groups in the council.”

Tottington Candidate Greg Keeley is a former police officer who previously sat on the council as a Conservative councillor in a 2015 by-election. And Carol Bernstein, the Bury West Candidate, was Bury’s ceremonial Mayoress between 2024/25.

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