The 1951 Leeds municipal elections were held on Thursday 10 May 1951, with boundary changes prompting the whole council's re-election. With the new wards the council grew by a further two (two additional wards also represented an increase of six councillors and two aldermen), as thirteen newly created wards replaced the eleven that were abolished:
Abolished:
Created:
There was a three percent swing from Labour to the Conservatives (as compared to 1949 – swings from 1950's distorted results show much larger swings as seen below) on the night, delivering the Conservatives control of the council with a 30-seat majority. Turnout naturally rose from the previous year's scarcely contested election, to an above average figure of 45.9%.[1] [2]
The result had the following consequences for the total number of seats on the council after the elections:
| Party | valign=top colspan="2" style="width: 30px" | Previous council | valign=top colspan="2" style="width: 30px" | New council | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cllr | Ald | Cllr | Ald | ||
| Conservatives | 36 | 12 | 53 | 18 | |
| Labour | 42 | 14 | 31 | 10 | |
| Total | 78 | 26 | 84 | 28 | |
| 104 | 112 | ||||
| Working majority | |||||