1961 Leeds City Council election


The Leeds municipal elections were held on Thursday 11 May 1961, with one third of the council and a vacancy in Cross Gates up for election.
In contrast to the national picture, the results in Leeds were a mirror-image of the previous year's election, with Labour enjoying a 5.5% swing in their direction, enabling them to win the majority of seats - defending all but one. The sole seat that changed hands, was the Conservative's gain in Wortley - returning the ward to full Conservative representation after a decade of mixture.
The Liberals, now including the unsuccessful Independent of the year before, retained their second place comfortably in Far Headingley and - by contrast - just three votes in Allerton. The Communists fielded a record of six candidates, gaining them their highest share on record, and highest vote since 1947. The BNP also entered their first ever candidate in Leeds, receiving 4% in Armley.
In addition, the allocation of aldermen changed, in accordance to the long running agreement between Labour and the Conservatives that they should be divided up proportional to their councillors - roughly one alderman per three councillors - granting the Tories an extra two at Labour's expense. All of which resulted in Labour's majority amounting to fourteen. Turnout returned to the mid thirties where it had stabilised for the latter half of the former decade, until suffering a sharp drop at the last election.

Election result

The result had the following consequences for the total number of seats on the council after the elections:

Ward results