The Leeds City Council election took place on 2 May 2002 to elect members of City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough Council in West Yorkshire, England. Prior to the election, there had been several by-elections held with no change to the council composition. One third of the council was up for election and the Labour party stayed in overall control of the council.^[1]

33 seats were contested in the election with Labour defending 23 seats, the Conservatives 5, Liberal Democrats 4 and 1 independent.^[2] Among the candidates who stood in the election was, Mark Collett, the leader of the youth wing of the British National Party, who stood in Harehills ward.^[2]

Among the issued raised in the election were disaffection with the national Labour government, a recent reversed decision by the council to close day car centres for the elderly, privatisation of services, investment levels in schools and council tax levels.^[3] Labour defended their record in control of the council, which they had run for the previous 22 years, in what was expected to be a hard-fought contest.^[4]

The results saw Labour maintain a majority on the council despite losing some seats to other parties.^[5] They lost 2 seats to the Conservatives in Aireborough and Otley and Wharfedale, 2 to the Liberal Democrats in Headingley and Rothwell, and one each to an Independent in Morley North and the Greens in Wortley.^[6] However Labour did gain one seat from the Liberal Democrats in Harehills and one in Hunslet from an Independent Socialist.^[6] As a result, they won 19 of the 33 seats contested meaning they had 57 of the 99 councillors on Leeds council.^[6] Overall turnout in the election was 30.64%.^[7]

This result had the following consequences for the total number of seats on the council after the elections:^[9]