2008 Leeds City Council election

2008 Leeds City Council election

← 2007 1 May 2008 2010 →
33 of the 99 seats on Leeds City Council (and 1 vacancy) 50 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	35.76% ( 1.76%)
First party Second party Third party   Leader Keith Wakefield Richard Brett Andrew Carter Party Labour Liberal Democrats Conservative Last election 15 seats, 32.5% 8 seats, 19.7% 7 seats, 27.0% Seats won 13 9 8 Seats after 43 24 22 Seat change 0 0 0 Popular vote 56,124 37,216 59,722 Percentage 28.67% 18.89% 31.41%
Labour in red (13), Liberal Democrats in yellow (9), Conservatives in blue (8), Morley Borough Independents in dark green (2) and Greens in light green (1).
Council control before election Coalition Liberal Democrats and Conservatives Council control after election Coalition Liberal Democrats and Conservatives

The 2008 Leeds City Council election took place on Thursday 1 May 2008 to elect members of Leeds City Council in England.

As per the election cycle, one third of the council's 99 seats were contested, plus an additional vacancy in Calverley and Farsley ward as Amanda Carter stood down. Those seats up for election were those of the first-placed candidate elected for every ward at the 2004 all-out election, who had been granted a four-year term to expire in 2008.

It saw the Liberal Democrat and Conservative coalition administration continue their control of the council. Despite both Labour and the Liberal Democrats winning more seats, the Conservatives won the majority of votes cast for the first time since 1992.

The Liberal Democrats regained a total of 24 seats on the council by defeating former Liberal Democrat-turn-independent and then Conservative councillor for Weetwood ward, Brian Jennings. This had followed Hyde Park and Woodhouse councillor, Kabeer Hussain, defecting from the Liberal Democrats to Labour in October 2007, who he then left less than six months later to sit as an Independent before the 2008 election.^[1][2][3][4]