1980 Kilmarnock and Loudoun District Council election

1980 Kilmarnock and Loudoun District Council election

←  1977 1 May 1980 (1980-05-01) 1984  →
All 16 seats to Kilmarnock and Loudoun District Council 9 seats needed for a majority
Registered	61,563
Turnout	48.6%
First party Second party   Lab Con Leader John Anderson Alan MacDougal Party Labour Conservative Leader's seat Ward 8 (defeated) Ward 13 Last election 7 seats, 38.6% 7 seats, 32.2% Seats won 11 5 Seat change 4 2 Popular vote 16,882 7,639 Percentage 56.5% 25.6% Swing 19.9 6.6
Council Leader before election Conservative Council Leader after election Labour

Elections to Kilmarnock and Loudoun District Council were held on 1 May 1980, on the same day as the other Scottish local government elections. This was the third election to the district council following the local government reforms in the 1970s.

The election was the last to use the original 16 wards created by the Formation Electoral Arrangements in 1974. Each ward elected one councillor using first-past-the-post voting. ^[1] Following the Initial Statutory Reviews of Electoral Arrangements in 1981, several wards were changed or abolished and the number of wards was increased. ^[2]

Labour gained overall control of the district council after winning 11 of the 16 seats as the party increased their vote share by nearly 20% and took more than half of the popular vote. The previous election in 1977 had resulted in no overall control after Labour and the Conservatives were tied with seven seats each. The Conservatives were the second-largest party after they retained five of their seven seats. The Scottish National Party (SNP), who had won two seats in 1977, lost both of their seats.

Background

Supported by the two SNP councillors, the Conservatives had run Kilmarnock and Loudon as a minority since the previous election in 1977 ^[3] while, at Westminster, the party had taken over from Labour following the 1979 general election.

Ahead of the 1980 election, the Conservatives campaigned to continue on with their "winning team". Their manifesto was entitled "Passport to Prosperity" and highlighted their support for the Right to Buy policy, a pledge to build new swimming baths and their support for small businesses at the newly established industrial estate in Bonnyton. ^[3]

Labour's campaign focused on the Thatcher government at Westminster which was unpopular in Scotland with their election literature headed "Tory Rule Not OK". They pledged to modernise the council's housing stock, provide leisure facilities for the whole family and introduce a more creative job opportunity scheme in response to raising unemployment. ^[3]

The SNP campaigned on a perceived "criminal" wasting of money within local government claiming that while rents and rates had increased dramatically since the local government reforms in 1974, ratepayers were instead funding "pleasure trips" for councillors in relation to town twinning. ^[4]

Results

1980 Kilmarnock and Loudoun District Council election result

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Labour	11	4	0	4	68.8	56.5	16,882	19.9
	Conservative	5	0	2	2	31.2	25.6	7,639	6.6
	SNP	0	0	2	2	0.0	16.1	4,797	9.7
	Liberal	0	0	0		0.0	1.9	559	0.5
Total		16						29,877

Source: ^{[5] [6]}

Ward results

Ward 1

Ward 1

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Houston Sim	1,238	50.4	14.5
	SNP	Robert Brown	1,207	49.2	3.9
Majority			31	1.2	N/A
Turnout			2,445	52.8	1.7
Registered electors			4,654
	Labour gain from SNP		Swing	5.3

Source: ^{[5] [6]}

Ward 2

Ward 2

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Robert Creighton	1,226	70.4	9.7
	SNP	Patricia Gibson	284	16.3	New
	Liberal	Peter Kerr	226	13.0	26.3
Majority			942	54.1	32.7
Turnout			1,736	47.5	4.8
Registered electors			3,662
	Labour hold		Swing	18.0

Source: ^{[5] [6]}

Ward 3

Ward 3

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Hunter	1,166	79.3	34.4
	Conservative	Elizabeth Walker	303	20.6	0.2
Majority			863	58.7	48.1
Turnout			1,469	38.1	10.7
Registered electors			3,858
	Labour hold		Swing	34.3

Source: ^{[5] [6]}

Ward 4

Ward 4

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Angus Steele	838	43.6	20.0
	Conservative	Robert Ledgerwood	751	39.1	1.0
	Liberal	Anne Dick	333	17.3	12.0
Majority			87	4.5	N/A
Turnout			1,922	45.7	6.0
Registered electors			4,207
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	9.5

Source: ^{[5] [6]}

Ward 5

Ward 5

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John McCrae	1,372	71.0	18.9
	SNP	Charles Calman	556	28.8	19.1
Majority			816	42.2	38.0
Turnout			1,928	48.9	2.7
Registered electors			3,950
	Labour hold		Swing	19.0

Source: ^{[5] [6]}

Ward 6

Ward 6

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Margaret Parker	1,121	61.1	4.6
	Labour	William McCulloch	713	38.8	20.1
Majority			408	22.3	9.4
Turnout			1,834	55.1	6.9
Registered electors			3,333
	Conservative hold		Swing	7.7

Source: ^{[5] [6]}

Ward 7

Ward 7

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	James O'Neil	1,280	56.6	28.6
	Conservative	John Porter	976	43.2	7.3
Majority			304	13.4	N/A
Turnout			2,256	53.1	4.9
Registered electors			4,259
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	10.6

Source: ^{[5] [6]}

Ward 8

Ward 8

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Mary Porter	1,173	70.1	10.8
	Labour	John Anderson	497	29.7	10.6
Majority			676	40.4	21.4
Turnout			1,670	46.4	2.3
Registered electors			3,602
	Conservative hold		Swing	10.7

Source: ^{[5] [6]}

Ward 9

Ward 9

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Maisie Garven	1,449	78.4	36.7
	SNP	Gordon Gibson	393	21.3	19.7
Majority			1,056	57.1	56.4
Turnout			1,842	44.0	6.8
Registered electors			4,207
	Labour hold		Swing	28.2

Source: ^{[5] [6]}

Ward 10

Ward 10

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Thomas Ferguson	1,274	59.7	20.3
	SNP	Leslie Flannigan	854	40.0	3.8
Majority			420	19.7	N/A
Turnout			2,128	47.4	0.7
Registered electors			4,503
	Labour gain from SNP		Swing	12.0

Source: ^{[5] [6]}

Ward 11

Ward 11

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	James Thomson	750	70.1	15.6
	Labour	John Wilson	314	29.3	15.0
Majority			436	40.8	30.6
Turnout			1,064	37.7	15.2
Registered electors			2,836
	Conservative hold		Swing	15.3

Source: ^{[5] [6]}

Ward 12

Ward 12

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Andrew Nisbet	1,610	86.5	10.4
	Conservative	James Mundell	245	13.2	10.7
Majority			1,365	73.3	21.1
Turnout			1,855	45.4	4.7
Registered electors			4,096
	Labour hold		Swing	10.5

Source: ^{[5] [6]}

Ward 13

Ward 13

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Alan MacDougall	833	33.9	1.3
	Labour	Annie Lochhead	818	33.3	6.4
	SNP	William Lamond	801	32.6	0.5
Majority			15	0.6	1.5
Turnout			2,452	54.1	9.5
Registered electors			4,536
	Conservative hold		Swing	3.8

Source: ^{[5] [6]}

Ward 14

Ward 14

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	James Mills	1,551	75.5	11.4
	Conservative	Archibald Wight	339	16.5	19.4
	SNP	James Morrison	162	7.9	New
Majority			1,212	59.0	30.8
Turnout			2,052	47.4	7.3
Registered electors			4,331
	Labour hold		Swing	15.4

Source: ^{[5] [6]}

Ward 15

Ward 15

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Trevor Whale	755	45.5	9.1
	Labour	James McChristie	598	36.0	3.2
	SNP	James Mair	306	18.4	12.4
Majority			157	9.5	5.9
Turnout			1,659	56.7	0.8
Registered electors			2,928
	Conservative hold		Swing	2.9

Source: ^{[5] [6]}

Ward 16

Ward 16

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	James Anderson	938	59.9	0.4
	Conservative	James Barclay-Gall	393	25.1	15.4
	SNP	Alexander Young	234	14.9	New
Majority			545	34.8	15.8
Turnout			1,565	60.2	8.6
Registered electors			2,601
	Labour hold		Swing	7.9

Source: ^{[5] [6]}

Aftermath

Labour regained control of the district council from the minority Conservative administration which had been in power since the previous election in 1977. Cllr Andrew Nisbet was elected as Provost following the first meeting of the new council. ^[7]

The result reflected a "strong anti-Tory trend" across Scotland according to Conservative group leader Cllr Alan MacDougal while former SNP councillor Leslie Flannigan blamed the Thatcher government for the party's losses as they were caught "in the middle of a shift from Tory to Labour". ^[8]

By-elections

Ward 9

Ward 9 Labour councillor Maisie Garven died on 16 November 1980 and a by-election, held on 12 February 1981, was won by Labour's Robert Stirling. ^{[9] [10]}

Ward 9 by-election, 12 February 1981

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Robert Stirling	1,269	71.9	6.5
	SNP	Charles Calman	351	19.9	1.4
	Conservative	Elizabeth Walker	110	6.2	New
	Scottish Movement Progressive Party	Gordon Walker	36	2.0	New
Majority			918	52.0	5.1
Turnout			1,766	42.0	2.0
Registered electors			4,204
	Labour hold		Swing	2.5

Source: ^[10]

Ward 2

Labour group leader and Ward 2 councillor Robert Creighton died suddenly on 18 August 1982 and a by-election, held on 11 November, was won by Labour's James Campbell. ^{[11] [12]}

Ward 2 by-election, 11 November 1982

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	James Campbell	792	63.2	7.2
	SNP	Danny Coffey	460	36.7	20.4
Majority			332	26.5	27.6
Turnout			1,254	35.1	12.4
Registered electors			3,584
	Labour hold		Swing	13.8

Source: ^{[12] [13]}

References

1. "Formation Electoral Arrangements". Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
2. "Initial Statutory Reviews of Electoral Arrangements". Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
3. Milligan, Alex (25 April 1980). "Three-year intrigue coming to an end" . Kilmarnock Standard. Kilmarnock. Retrieved 6 February 2023– via British Newspaper Archive.
4. Milligan, Alex (25 April 1980). "Three-year intrigue coming to an end" . Kilmarnock Standard. Kilmarnock. Retrieved 6 February 2023– via British Newspaper Archive.
5. Botchel, J. M.; Denver, D. T. (1980). The Scottish District Elections 1980: Results and Statistics (PDF). Dundee: Election Studies, University of Dundee. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
6. Botchel, J. M.; Denver, D. T. (1977). The Scottish District Elections 1977: Results and Statistics (PDF). Dundee: Election Studies, University of Dundee. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
7. "Andrew Nisbet takes chair" . Kilmarnock Standard. Kilmarnock. 9 May 1980. Retrieved 6 February 2023– via British Newspaper Archive.
8. Hossack, Margaret (16 May 1980). "Mixed reaction at Labour win" . Kilmarnock Standard. Kilmarnock. Retrieved 6 February 2023– via British Newspaper Archive.
9. "Death of councillor Mrs Maisie Garven" . Kilmarnock Standard. Kilmarnock. 21 November 1980. Retrieved 6 February 2023– via British Newspaper Archive.
10. "Death of councillor Mrs Maisie Garven" . Kilmarnock Standard. Kilmarnock. 21 November 1980. Retrieved 6 February 2023– via British Newspaper Archive.
11. "Councillor's death a 'tragic loss'" . Kilmarnock Standard. Kilmarnock. 10 September 1982. Retrieved 6 February 2023– via British Newspaper Archive.
12. "Labour's Jimmy wins the ward" . Kilmarnock Standard. Kilmarnock. 19 November 1982. Retrieved 6 February 2023– via British Newspaper Archive.
13. "Campbell and Coffey: Labour faces SNP challenge" . Kilmarnock Standard. Kilmarnock. 12 November 1982. Retrieved 6 February 2023– via British Newspaper Archive.