The

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 ...

elections were held on Thursday, 2 May 1996, with a third of the council up for election. 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 ...

suffered another routing, although with a less impressive

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 ...

vote and a slight recovery in their own vote, were able to hold on to three seats. Labour furthered their stranglehold on the council with an additional seven gains, with all but

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, ...

(

Liberal Democrat Several political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties usually follow a liberal democratic ideology. Active parties Former parties See also *Liberal democracy *Lib ...

) and Pudsey South (

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

) from the Tories. As a result of the gains, those two wards - along with the Tory losses of

Aireborough Aireborough is a district within the West Yorkshire Urban Area, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is mostly within the present Leeds metropolitan borough, although some areas now in Bradford metropolitan district may also be conside ...

, Halton, Morley North and

Weetwood Weetwood is an area between Headingley and Meanwood in north-west Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is bounded on the north by the A6120 (Outer Ring Road), on the west by the A660 (Otley Road), on the east by Meanwood Beck and to the sout ...

wards - were now represented entirely by Labour (a first for most). The other Labour gain was snatching the remaining Tory seat in the former Tory-Liberal battleground of

Otley Otley is a market town and civil parish at a bridging point on the River Wharfe, in the City of Leeds metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the population was 13,668 at the 20 ...

Wharfedale Wharfedale ( ) is the valley of the upper parts of the River Wharfe and one of the Yorkshire Dales. It is situated within the districts of Craven and Harrogate in North Yorkshire, and the cities of Leeds and Bradford in West Yorkshire. It i ...

. The Lib Dems offset their loss to Labour in Burmantofts with gains from the Tories in

Horsforth Horsforth is a town and 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 population of 18,895 at the ...

and the newly three-way marginal

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north ...

ward. The results, however, were a disappointment to the Lib Dems - evidenced by their poor performance in Otley & Wharfedale, and a vote sunk to their 1992 level. Another parallel to the 1992 election was the slump in overall turnout to a record low. Peter Kersting's decision to forgo defending his seat for Pudsey South seen the absence of Independents from the council for the first time since

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning ...

. The Greens advanced further into a respectable second place in Wortley, in contrast to the stagnant fortunes of the Liberals and the weakened support for the sole Militant Labour candidate.

Election result

, - style="background-color:#F9F9F9" ! style="background-color: " , , Militant Labour , align="right" , 0 , align="right" , 0 , align="right" , 0 , align="right" , 0 , align="right" , 0.0 , align="right" , 0.1 , align="right" , 232 , align="right" , -0.1 , - This result had the following consequences for the total number of seats on the council after the elections:

Ward results

, - style="background-color:#F9F9F9" ! style="background-color: " , , Militant Labour , Chris Hill , align="right" , 232 , align="right" , 7.6 , align="right" , -2.6 , -

By-elections between 1996 and 1998

, - style="background-color:#F9F9F9" ! style="background-color: " , , Militant Labour , , align="right" , 44 , align="right" , 2.0 , align="right" , +2.0 , -

References

{{Leeds Council elections 1996 English local elections 1996 1990s in Leeds