1946 Leeds City Council election

The 1946 Leeds municipal elections were held on Saturday 2 November 1946,^[1] with one third of the council and vacancies in Burmantofts and Farnley & Wortley to be elected. A handful of wards - Armley & Wortley, Burmantofts, Holbeck North, Hunslet Carr & Middleton and Osmondthorpe - went uncontested.^[2]

Rebounding from the heavy defeat the year before, the Conservatives managed a 13% swing^[3] to win the popular vote - although that feat went poorly rewarded, as Labour won a comfortable majority of the seats contested and made a net gain to add to their national victory.^[1]^[2] Elsewhere the Liberal vote was less than half of that the previous year, and the Communists contested this year with three candidates. Turnout seen a slight drop from the prior election to 41.9%.^[3]

Election result

Leeds Local Election Result 1946
	Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
Labour	19	?	?	+1	67.8	44.9	53,865	-12.9
Conservative	9	?	?	-1	32.1	51.4	61,668	+14.3
Liberal	0	0	0	0	0.0	2.9	3,434	-2.1
Communist	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.7	903	New

The result had the following consequences for the total number of seats on the council after the elections:^[3]

Party		Previous council		New council
Party		Cllr	Ald	Cllr	Ald
	Labour	58	15	59	15
	Conservatives	20	11	19	11
Total		78	26	78	26
Total		104		104
Working majority		38	4	40	4
Working majority		42		44

Ward results

Armley & Wortley^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	A. Marlow	Unopposed	N/A	N/A

Beeston^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	P. Gummersall	3,180	45.7	+8.0
	Labour	W. Clayton	3,174	45.6	−5.8
	Liberal	G. Story	609	8.7	−2.2
Majority			6	0.1	−13.6
Turnout			6,963

Blenheim^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	S. Webster	2,822	55.5	+5.9
	Labour	M. Bretherick	2,267	44.5	−5.9
Majority			555	11.0	+9.9
Turnout			5,089

Bramley^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	E. Atkinson	4,339	54.9	−0.7
	Conservative	A. Baker	3,562	45.1	+12.4
Majority			777	9.8	−13.1
Turnout			7,901

Burmantofts^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	G. Murray	Unopposed	N/A	N/A
	Labour	W. Shutt	Unopposed	N/A	N/A

Central^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	A. Lowcock	1,621	62.4	−6.7
	Conservative	P. Stead	977	37.6	+6.7
Majority			644	24.8	−13.3
Turnout			2,598

Cross Gates & Temple Newsam^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	H. Adamson	5,583	57.4	+15.0
	Labour	L. Walsh	4,136	42.6	−15.0
Majority			1,447	14.8	−0.2
Turnout			9,719

East Hunslet^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	L. Naylor	2,163	69.5	+1.5
	Liberal	Albert Hope	947	30.5	−1.5
Majority			1,216	39.0	+3.0
Turnout			3,110

Far Headingley^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	G. Martin	6,529	72.3	+5.6
	Labour	E. Whitehead	1,808	20.0	−13.2
	Liberal	Winifred Underhill	690	7.6	+7.6
Majority			4,721	52.3	+18.8
Turnout			9,027

Farnley & Wortley^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	J. Watson	4,246	58.0	−7.5
	Labour	J. Wallbanks	4,156
	Conservative	P. Bailey	3,081	42.0	+7.5
	Conservative	G. Appleby	3,022
Majority			1,165	16.0	−15.0
Turnout			7,327

Harehills^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	J. Hills	3,944	53.4	−14.7
	Conservative	G. Monkman	3,444	46.6	+14.7
Majority			500	6.8	−29.5
Turnout			7,388

Holbeck North^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	T. Jessop	Unopposed	N/A	N/A

Holbeck South^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	F. Burnley	2,110	72.8	+3.5
	Liberal	W. Holdsworth	789	27.2	+14.1
Majority			1,321	45.6	−6.0
Turnout			2,899

Hunslet Carr & Middleton^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	S. Hand	Unopposed	N/A	N/A

Hyde Park^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	H. McKay	4,123	68.8	+11.7
	Labour	A. Malcolm	1,866	31.2	−11.7
Majority			2,257	37.7	+23.4
Turnout			5,989

Kirkstall^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	H. Happold	3,980	54.4	−4.0
	Conservative	H. Sellors	3,332	45.6	+13.8
Majority			648	8.9	−17.8
Turnout			7,312

Mill Hill & South^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	D. Cowling	1,267	51.5	+8.4
	Labour	H. Hyams	1,194	48.5	−8.4
Majority			73	3.0	−10.9
Turnout			2,461

North^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	D. Kaberry	7,003	77.7	+20.1
	Labour	N. Davey	2,015	22.3	−6.4
Majority			4,988	55.3	+26.5
Turnout			9,018

Osmondthorpe^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	F. Potter	Unopposed	N/A	N/A

Potternewton^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	J. Mulley	3,124	55.0	+11.5
	Labour	B. Weinrib	1,961	34.5	−22.1
	Communist	B. Ramelson	598	10.5	+10.5
Majority			1,163	20.5	+7.3
Turnout			5,683

Richmond Hill^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Z. Fernandez	1,519	89.9	N/A
	Communist	M. Ramelson	171	10.1	N/A
Majority			1,348	79.8	N/A
Turnout			1,690		N/A

Roundhay^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	G. Stevenson	6,953	76.5	+14.4
	Labour	A. D'Arcy	2,140	23.5	−14.4
Majority			4,813	52.9	+28.8
Turnout			9,093

Upper Armley^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	W. Braham	2,931	48.2	−10.8
	Conservative	E. Glover	2,749	45.2	+4.2
	Liberal	G. Petch	399	6.6	+6.6
Majority			182	3.0	−15.0
Turnout			6,079

West Hunslet^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	T. Ellison	2,668	66.0	−5.1
	Conservative	P. Woodward	1,243	30.7	+12.4
	Communist	J. Roche	134	3.3	+3.3
Majority			1,425	35.2	−17.5
Turnout			4,045

Westfield^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	J. Rafferty	1,392	61.5	−12.6
	Conservative	G. Harrison	871	38.5	+12.6
Majority			521	23.0	−25.3
Turnout			2,263

Woodhouse^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	H. Nick	2,391	56.7	−5.7
	Conservative	S. Taylor	1,825	43.3	+18.7
Majority			566	13.4	−24.4
Turnout			4,216

References

^ ^a ^b "Laborites Lead in British Election". The New York Times. 2 November 1946. Retrieved 16 October 2012.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s ^t ^u ^v ^w ^x ^y ^z ^aa ^ab "Municipal results: Leeds". The Yorkshire Post. 3 November 1946.
^ ^a ^b ^c Sharpe, L.J. (1967). Voting in cities: the 1964 borough elections.

[NYT-1] "Laborites Lead in British Election". The New York Times. 2 November 1946. Retrieved 16 October 2012.

[results-2] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s ^t ^u ^v ^w ^x ^y ^z ^aa ^ab "Municipal results: Leeds". The Yorkshire Post. 3 November 1946.

[sharpe-3] Sharpe, L.J. (1967). Voting in cities: the 1964 borough elections.

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