The 1965 municipal elections for Leeds were held on Thursday 13 May 1965,[1] with one third of the council and an extra vacancy in Allerton to be elected.[2]
Building upon the previous year, the Conservatives fully reversed the downward trend they'd been on since 1960. With a whopping 10.2%[3] swing their way, they defeated the Labour Party in a manner not seen since 1951, with Labour's share reduced to the thirties - surpassing even their record low then.
The Conservatives six gains were largely a regaining of Labour's 1963 gains, with the notable exceptions of Beeston, which they already held, and Kirkstall - a first for the ward, which had been monolithically Labour since the boundary changes in 1951.
The Conservatives also recovered Roundhay from Labour who gained it in a by-election in 1963.
Elsewhere, the Liberals continued their decline from the 1962 highs, now at near enough where they were pre-spike. In contrast, the Communists, having steadily raised their candidates in each election since the mid-1950s were now fielding a record of 12, achieving party records in both vote and share. Turnout fell again by just over two percent on last year's figure to 34.5%.[4]
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 | ||
| Labour | 56 | 19 | 50 | 19 | |
| Conservatives | 28 | 9 | 34 | 9 | |
| Total | 84 | 28 | 84 | 28 | |
| 112 | 112 | ||||
| Working majority | |||||