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Leeds City Council election, 1980

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Leeds City Council election, 1980

Elections to Leeds City Council were held on Thursday, 1 May 1980, with boundary changes prompting the entirety of the council to be elected.

The boundary changes added an extra ward to the existing 32 - increasing the councillor total by three to 99 - with just half the ward names surviving the changes:

The drop in Conservative support - which seen them set lows in vote share and seats won - allowed Labour to win record representation and comfortably regain control of the council from the Conservatives, with a 25-seat strong majority. Labour also managed highs in votes and vote share, once the previous year's totals are omitted for unrepresentatively high turnout (which were gained from coinciding with the general election that year).

The Liberals, who fielded their first full-slate of candidates, also achieved party records but were rewarded with fewer seats in the new landscape; their gains confined to Armley, Horsforth and Otley, looking unlikely to win the new seats replacing the formerly favourable seats for Hunslet and Pudsey.

Elsewhere, the Ecologists bettered their previous efforts with an increased outing, standing candidates in over a half of the wards, surpassing Liberal support in a number of them. Beyond the regular Communist slate, there was also another appearance from an Independent in Morley North, an Independent Liberal standing in Rothwell and the first appearance of a Residents Association by way of a candidate each in Headingley, Kirkstall and Weetwood.

Election result

This result has the following consequences for the total number of seats on the council after the elections:

References

Leeds City Council election, 1980 Wikipedia