KEIGHLEY Tories have come under fire on social media for using companies outside the area to print the party's general election leaflets.

Some tweets have accused campaign bosses of ignoring local printers and instead giving the trade to businesses in the south.

A Conservative party spokesman accepts there were "some occasions" before the formal election campaign began when literature was printed elsewhere in the country.

But he added: "Since the formal campaign got under way, all the leaflets have been produced in the district.

"For example, page five of the eight-page plan for Keighley and Ilkley clearly states that the document was printed in Bradford.

"And local Conservative literature is printed at Autoprint, in Dalton Mills."

Labour candidate John Grogan said the main parties tended to use a mixture of local and national printers to get best value.

He added: "Keighley Labour Party has printed its leaflets in the town except for those which have been organised nationally across many constituencies to get economies of scale, thereby reducing costs and staying within election spending limits."