Elections in England and Wales, 1949 held during the week of 4–9 April for County Council positions, resulted in sweeping Conservative gains and correspondingly heavy Labour losses.

[6] However the first by-election to be held after the county and other local elections, in West Leeds on 21 July 1949,[7] showed the largest swing to the Conservatives in any Parliamentary contest for the previous nine months.

[8] Despite the assessment by Cook & Ramsden that the by-elections of 1949 offered little indication that the Tories would do so well in 1950, taken together with the county and other local results, a clear pattern of dissatisfaction with the Labour government can be discerned and a willingness by the electorate to turn again towards the Conservatives.

Tory leader Winston Churchill told a rally at the Royal Albert Hall that the County Council contests had seen great Conservative victories and there was a prospect of more to come.

Anthony Eden told the same meeting that the election results showed the electorate were moving towards the Conservative approaches of lower taxation, halting further nationalisations, providing incentives and the revival of the virtue of thrift.

He said that Labour would have to learn the lessons of the election results, particularly tactical ones about how and in which constituencies the Tories chose to fight the hardest and put the greatest resources.