![\"Green](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0_IMG_8586.jpg\")
<\/p>\nDeputy Council Leader Jonathan Pryor was among the Labour candidates who lose the seats they were defending.<\/p>\n
Green Party candidate Eden Mills celebrates after winning in the Little London and Woodhouse ward alongside Green Party Deputy Leader Mothin Ali<\/p>\n
It has not been a good day for the governing Labour Party in Leeds, despite them holding on to some important seats in the city.<\/p>\n
The Labour Party held 56 out of 99 seats on Leeds City Council<\/a> before this year’s local election<\/a>, which saw 36 seats up for grabs. Labour lost eight seats in the election, bringing their total down to 48, and losing overall control of Leeds<\/a> City Council.<\/p>\n This leaves the council under no overall control, after Labour lost seats to the Green Party and Reform UK. Labour did hold on to some of its seats, including in Gipton and Harehills, but it was not enough to keep overall control of the council.<\/p>\n Negotiations will now take place over the forming of a new administration. The Conservative Party has remained the second biggest party in Leeds, successfully defending all of their seats, including group leader Andrew Carter’s, and gaining one, leaving them with 14 overall.<\/p>\n The Liberal Democrats held both of their seats which were up for election, leaving them with six seats overall, the same number as before. This included group leader Stewart Golton, who successfully defended his seat in Rothwell.<\/p>\n In addition, the Garforth and Swillington Independents, and the SDP, successfully defended their seats in Garforth and Swillington and Middleton Park respectively. The big winners were, however, Reform UK who won eight seats, bringing their total to 10 and the Green Party who won five, bringing their total to 11.<\/p>\n Stephen Dresser, the Reform candidate for Killingbeck and Seacroft<\/p>\n Deputy Council Leader Jonathan Pryor lost his Headingley and Hyde Park seat to Green Party candidate Nilesh Chohan in one of the biggest moments of the election, with just 1,278 votes compared to the Greens’ 4,334. This has all served to increase the pressure on embattled Prime Minister Keir Starmer, as multiple Leeds Labour figures called for his resignation.<\/a><\/p>\n This includes Leeds East MP Richard Burgon, who said: “My solidarity and support for all hard-working local councillors in Leeds and across the country who will have lost seats today because of Keir Starmer. I know they work hard in their communities, they live in their communities, and the reason they lost is because of the Prime Minister.<\/p>\n “The Prime Minister previously said, famously, that if the electorate send you a message, you don’t say to them you got it wrong, you listen. He needs to do that, accept he’s not going to stand in another election for the Labour Party, and he should set a timetable to go so we can get on with the work of stopping what would be the first far-right government in our country’s history.<\/p>\n “So we can get on, unencumbered, with the work of trying to stop a Trump-style government in this country.”<\/p>\n Conservative Party group leader Andrew Carter took time after winning his election to call for more cooperation on the council between the varying parties. He said: “It’s a hung council, it’s an opportunity for areas that happen to be neglected, for our constituents to have a say in what’s going on and actually achieve things.<\/p>\n “If the Labour Party want to continue to bulldoze everything through on their own against what the public want, they’ll get a shock. It’s a shock that’s been a long time coming, and a shock that’s badly deserved. Leeds Council is badly run and it has been for the last 16 years, and it’s time, the people have spoken.<\/p>\n “They want all sorts of councillors from all sorts of parties, so we better respect that and get on with running Leeds properly.”<\/p>\n![\"Stephen](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0_IMG_2379.jpg\")
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