It is the second most populous local government district in the United Kingdom with approximately 800,000 inhabitants living within its area; only Birmingham City Council has more.

The ruling body was then formally called the "mayor, aldermen and burgesses of the borough of Leeds", generally known as the corporation or town council.

Leeds' borough and city statuses and right to appoint a lord mayor were transferred to the enlarged district.

Some functions, notably policing, fire services and public transport are run by joint committees of the five metropolitan boroughs in West Yorkshire.

[14] Established in 1821, it is the largest local authority-run museum service in England, with one of the larger and more significant multidisciplinary collections in the UK, looking after 1.3 million objects.

[15] The service is run and primarily funded by Leeds City Council (LCC), and plays a significant role in shaping the cultural life of the city, but as a leading museum service it has a regional and national reputation and role.

In 2012 the organisation achieved Major Partner Museum status from Arts Council England, which brought significant additional funding and further national prominence and expectation.

The city operates waste disposal and recycling facilities in Kirkstall, Meanwood, Middleton, Otley, Pudsey, Seacroft, Wetherby (Thorp Arch) and Yeadon.

[19] West Yorkshire Joint Services provides services for the five district local authorities in West Yorkshire (Leeds, Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees and Wakefield) in the areas of archaeology, archives, ecology, materials testing, public analyst, and trading standards.

[21] These committees also exert considerable influence over other areas of local interest such as street-cleansing and community policing.

The council operates a Leader and Cabinet executive as defined under Section 11 of the Local Government Act 2000.

[25][26] On 3 May 2012 a referendum was held to determine whether or not to replace the current leadership arrangements with a directly elected mayor.

The question that was asked in the referendum was set by central government, and was:[53] The proposal for an elected mayor was opposed by the leaders of the four largest groups on the council.

It was supported by Leeds Conservative MPs Stuart Andrew (Pudsey) and Alec Shelbrooke (Elmet and Rothwell).

The referendum results showed a rejection of the proposal for a directly elected mayor, with 63% (107,910) voting to keep the status quo.

However, in 2010, the Labour Group regained control as a minority administration with the support of the two Green Party councillors.

[67] In September 2012 the council announced its intention to introduce a bring your own device policy as part of cost saving measures.

The reality is that they are caused by councils treating sensitive personal data in the same routine way they would deal with more general correspondence.

Far too often in these cases, the councils do not appear to have acknowledged that the data they are handling is about real people, and often the more vulnerable members of society.