Elections to

Leeds City Council Leeds City Council is the local authority of the City of Leeds in West Yorkshire, England. It is a metropolitan district council, one of five in West Yorkshire and one of 36 in the metropolitan counties of England, and provides the majority of l ...

were held on Thursday, 6 May 1982, with one-third of the council to be elected. As well as that, there was a vacancy to fill after the defection of

Whinmoor Whinmoor is a residential area of east Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is 5 miles (8 km) to the north-east of the Leeds city centre, city centre and adjacent to Swarcliffe and Seacroft in the LS14 LS postcode area, Leeds postcode a ...

incumbent Edward Hewitt to the newly formed

Alliance An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

between the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

and the

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

-breakaway

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Fo ...

in February, following his colleague and

Headingley Headingley is a suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, approximately two miles out of the city centre, to the north west along the A660 road. Headingley is the location of the Beckett Park campus of Leeds Beckett University and Headingle ...

councillor, Ernest Millet, who had also defected to the SDP two months prior. The first election featuring the Alliance seen their support increase by a third upon the previous election, mostly at the expense of the Labour vote, but also helped by the comparative absence of minor parties this election. The Alliance surge resulted in Leeds first three-way race for the popular vote, with the

Conservatives Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

pipping Labour by less than 3,000 votes. The large swings from Labour to Alliance produced gains in

Burmantofts Burmantofts is an area of 1960s high-rise housing blocks in inner-city east Leeds, West Yorkshire, England adjacent to the city centre and St. James's Hospital. It is a racially diverse area, with sizable Afro-Caribbean and Irish communities, ...

and Richmond Hill, as well as allowing Conservative gains in Barwick & Kippax,

Garforth Garforth () is a town in the metropolitan borough of the City of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It sits in the Garforth and Swillington ward of Leeds City Council and the Elmet and Rothwell parliamentary constituency. As of 2011, the popula ...

& Swillington,

Morley Morley may refer to: Places England * Morley, Norfolk, a civil parish * Morley, Derbyshire, a civil parish * Morley, Cheshire, a village * Morley, County Durham, a village * Morley, West Yorkshire, a suburban town of Leeds and civil parish * M ...

North and

Pudsey Pudsey is a market town in the City of Leeds, City of Leeds Borough in West Yorkshire, England. It is located midway between Bradford, Bradford city centre and Leeds city centre. Historic counties of England, Historically in the West Riding of ...

South. There was also an Alliance gain from the Conservatives in the already marginal

Horsforth Horsforth is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish within the City of Leeds, in West Yorkshire, England, lying about five miles north-west of Leeds city centre. Historically a village within the West Riding of Yorkshire, it had a p ...

, but with the

Ecologist Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps wi ...

absence playing a bigger role there. Despite the inferior vote and near-halving of their majority by six losses, Labour still won a plurality of the seats fought, and gained back the Headingley and Whinmoor seats they'd lost through defections.

Election result

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

Ward results

References

{{Leeds Council elections 1982 English local elections

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...

1980s in Leeds May 1982 events in the United Kingdom