1947 Leeds City Council election explained

The 1947 Leeds municipal elections were held on Saturday 1 November 1947,[1] with one third of the seats, as well as a vacancy in Potternewton, up for election. With no Liberal candidate this time, East Hunslet went unopposed.[2]

Following favourable national patterns, the swing of two percent[3] to the Conservatives helped the party decisively win the popular vote and, in part thanks to a spike in turnout to 55.3%, gain new post-war records in both share and votes. Despite a deficit of over 20,000 votes and losses totalling seven seats to the Conservatives, Labour were still able to pip them in seats won by an additional seat. As such, Labour's majority was cut by close to a third, but remained safe at 30.

Election result

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

Partyvalign=top colspan="2" style="width: 30px"Previous councilvalign=top colspan="2" style="width: 30px"New council
CllrAldCllrAld
Labour59155215
Conservatives19112611
Total78267826
104104
Working majority

Notes and References

  1. News: British Laborites Decisively Beaten in Municipal Vote. . 2 November 1947 . 15 October 2012.
  2. News: Municipal results: Leeds . . 2 November 1947.
  3. Book: Sharpe, L.J. . 1967 . Voting in cities: the 1964 borough elections.