1980 United Kingdom local elections

Last updated

1980 United Kingdom local elections
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg
  1979 1 May 1980 1981  

All 36 metropolitan boroughs, 103 out of 296 English districts and all 53 Scottish districts
 Majority partyMinority partyThird party
  Margaret Thatcher (1983).jpg James Callaghan ppmsca.53218 (cropped).tif
Leader Margaret Thatcher James Callaghan David Steel
Party Conservative Labour Liberal
Leader since11 February 19755 April 19767 July 1976
Percentage40%50%13%
Swing601
Councillors19,2388,0111,149
Councillors +/-Decrease2.svg 484Increase2.svg 601Increase2.svg 90

Local elections were held in the United Kingdom in 1980. [1] [2] These were the first annual local elections for the new Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Though the Conservatives in government lost seats, the projected share of the vote was close: Labour Party 42%, Conservative Party 40%, Liberal Party 13%. Labour were still being led by the former prime minister James Callaghan, who resigned later in the year to be succeeded by Michael Foot.

Contents

Labour gained 601 seats, bringing their number of councillors to 8,011. The Conservatives lost 484 seats, leaving them with 11,738 councillors. The Liberal Party gained 90 seats and finished with 1,149 councillors.

Changes in control of councils were as follows:

Summary of results

England

Metropolitan boroughs

Whole council

In 17 metropolitan boroughs the whole council was up for election.

In 17 boroughs there were new ward boundaries, following electoral boundary reviews by the Local Government Boundary Commission for England.

CouncilPrevious controlResultDetails
Bolton Conservative Labour gain Details
Bradford Conservative Labour gain Details
Calderdale Conservative No overall control gain Details
Coventry Labour Labour hold Details
Doncaster Labour Labour hold Details
Leeds No overall control Labour gain Details
Liverpool No overall control No overall control hold Details
Rochdale No overall control Labour gain Details
Rotherham Labour Labour hold Details
Sheffield Labour Labour hold Details
St Helens Labour Labour hold Details
Stockport Conservative Conservative hold Details
Tameside Labour Labour hold Details
Trafford Conservative Conservative hold Details
Walsall No overall control Labour gain Details
Wigan Labour Labour hold Details
Wirral Conservative Conservative hold Details

‡ New ward boundaries

Third of council

19 metropolitan borough councils had one third of their seats up for election.

CouncilPrevious controlResultDetails
Barnsley Labour Labour hold Details
Birmingham No overall control Labour gain Details
Bury Conservative Conservative hold Details
Dudley Conservative No overall control gain Details
Gateshead Labour Labour hold Details
Kirklees No overall control Labour gain Details
Knowsley Labour Labour hold Details
Manchester Labour Labour hold Details
Newcastle upon Tyne Labour Labour hold Details
North Tyneside Labour Labour hold Details
Oldham Conservative Labour gain Details
Salford Labour Labour hold Details
Sandwell Labour Labour hold Details
Sefton Conservative Conservative hold Details
Solihull Conservative Conservative hold Details
South Tyneside Labour Labour hold Details
Sunderland Labour Labour hold Details
Wakefield Labour Labour hold Details
Wolverhampton No overall control Labour gain Details

District councils

In 103 districts one third of the council was up for election.

A further 59 councils had passed a resolution under section 7 (4) (b) of the Local Government Act 1972, requesting a system of elections by thirds. They could do so because they had had their new ward boundaries introduced at the 1979 elections.

CouncilPrevious controlResultDetails
Adur Conservative Liberal gain Details
Amber Valley No overall control Labour gain Details
Barrow-in-Furness Labour Labour hold Details
Basildon No overall control No overall control hold Details
Basingstoke and Deane Conservative Conservative hold Details
Bassetlaw Labour Labour hold Details
Bath Conservative Conservative hold Details
Blackburn No overall control No overall control hold Details
Brentwood Conservative Conservative hold Details
Broadland Conservative Conservative hold Details
Broxbourne Conservative Conservative hold Details
Burnley Labour Labour hold Details
Cambridge No overall control No overall control hold Details
Cannock Chase Labour Labour hold Details
Cherwell Conservative Conservative hold Details
Chester Conservative Conservative hold Details
Chorley Conservative Conservative hold Details
Colchester Conservative Conservative hold Details
Congleton Conservative Conservative hold Details
Craven Conservative Conservative hold Details
Crawley Labour Labour hold Details
Crewe and Nantwich No overall control No overall control hold Details
Daventry Conservative No overall control gain Details
Derby Labour Labour hold Details
East Devon Conservative Conservative hold Details
Eastbourne Conservative Conservative hold Details
Eastleigh Conservative Conservative hold Details
Ellesmere Port and Neston Labour Labour hold Details
Elmbridge Conservative Conservative hold Details
Epping Forest Conservative Conservative hold Details
Fareham Conservative Conservative hold Details
Gillingham Conservative Conservative hold Details
Gloucester Conservative Conservative hold Details
Gosport Conservative Conservative hold Details
Great Grimsby Labour Labour hold Details
Great Yarmouth Conservative No overall control gain Details
Halton Labour Labour hold Details
Harlow Labour Labour hold Details
Hart Conservative Conservative hold Details
Hartlepool Labour Labour hold Details
Hastings Conservative No overall control gain Details
Havant Conservative Conservative hold Details
Hereford No overall control Liberal gain Details
Hertsmere Conservative Conservative hold Details
Huntingdon Conservative Conservative hold Details
Hyndburn Conservative Labour gain Details
Ipswich Labour Labour hold Details
Leominster Independent Independent hold Details
Lincoln Conservative Conservative hold Details
Macclesfield Conservative Conservative hold Details
Maidstone Conservative Conservative hold Details
Milton Keynes Conservative Conservative hold Details
Mole Valley No overall control Independent gain Details
Newcastle-under-Lyme Labour Labour hold Details
North Hertfordshire Conservative Conservative hold Details
Norwich Labour Labour hold Details
Nuneaton and Bedworth Labour Labour hold Details
Oadby and Wigston Conservative Conservative hold Details
Oxford Conservative Labour gain Details
Pendle No overall control No overall control hold Details
Penwith Independent Independent hold Details
Peterborough No overall control Labour gain Details
Preston Conservative Labour gain Details
Purbeck Independent Independent hold Details
Reigate and Banstead Conservative Conservative hold Details
Rochford Conservative Conservative hold Details
Rossendale Conservative Conservative hold Details
Rugby No overall control No overall control hold Details
Runnymede Conservative Conservative hold Details
Rushmoor Conservative No overall control gain Details
Scunthorpe Labour Labour hold Details
Shrewsbury and Atcham Conservative No overall control gain Details
South Bedfordshire Conservative Conservative hold Details
South Cambridgeshire Independent Independent hold Details
South Herefordshire Independent Independent hold Details
South Lakeland No overall control No overall control hold Details
Southampton Conservative Conservative hold Details
Southend-on-Sea Conservative Conservative hold Details
St Albans Conservative Conservative hold Details
Stevenage Labour Labour hold Details
Stoke-on-Trent Labour Labour hold Details
Stratford-on-Avon Conservative Conservative hold Details
Swale Conservative Conservative hold Details
Tamworth Conservative Labour gain Details
Tandridge Conservative Conservative hold Details
Thamesdown Labour Labour hold Details
Three Rivers Conservative Conservative hold Details
Thurrock No overall control No overall control hold Details
Tonbridge and Malling Conservative Conservative hold Details
Tunbridge Wells Conservative Conservative hold Details
Watford Labour Labour hold Details
Welwyn Hatfield Labour Labour hold Details
West Lancashire Conservative Conservative hold Details
West Lindsey No overall control No overall control hold Details
West Oxfordshire No overall control No overall control hold Details
Weymouth and Portland Conservative No overall control gain Details
Winchester Conservative Conservative hold Details
Woking Conservative Conservative hold Details
Wokingham Conservative Conservative hold Details
Woodspring Conservative Conservative hold Details
Worcester Conservative Labour gain Details
Wyre Forest No overall control No overall control hold Details
York Conservative No overall control gain Details

‡ New ward boundaries

Scotland

District councils

CouncilPrevious controlResultDetails
Aberdeen No overall control Labour gain Details
Angus Conservative Conservative hold Details
Annandale and Eskdale Independent Independent hold Details
Argyll Independent Independent hold Details
Badenoch and Strathspey Independent Independent hold Details
Banff and Buchan Independent Independent hold Details
Bearsden and Milngavie Conservative Conservative hold Details
Berwickshire Conservative Conservative hold Details
Caithness Independent Independent hold Details
Clackmannan SNP Labour gain Details
Clydebank No overall control Labour gain Details
Clydesdale No overall control No overall control hold Details
Cumbernauld and Kilsyth SNP Labour gain Details
Cumnock and Doon Valley Labour Labour hold Details
Cunninghame No overall control Labour gain Details
Dumbarton No overall control Labour gain Details
Dundee No overall control Labour gain Details
Dunfermline Labour Labour hold Details
East Kilbride No overall control Labour gain Details
East Lothian Labour Labour hold Details
Eastwood Conservative Conservative hold Details
Edinburgh Conservative No overall control gain Details
Ettrick and Lauderdale Independent Independent hold Details
Falkirk SNP Labour gain Details
Glasgow No overall control Labour gain Details
Gordon No overall control No overall control hold Details
Hamilton Labour Labour hold Details
Inverclyde Liberal Labour gain Details
Inverness Independent Independent hold Details
Kilmarnock and Loudoun No overall control Labour gain Details
Kincardine and Deeside Independent Independent hold Details
Kirkcaldy No overall control Labour gain Details
Kyle and Carrick No overall control Labour gain Details
Lochaber Independent Independent hold Details
Midlothian No overall control Labour gain Details
Monklands Labour Labour hold Details
Moray Independent Independent hold Details
Motherwell Labour Labour hold Details
Nairn Independent Independent hold Details
Nithsdale Independent Independent hold Details
North East Fife Conservative Conservative hold Details
Perth and Kinross Conservative Conservative hold Details
Renfrew Details
Ross and Cromarty Independent Independent hold Details
Roxburgh Independent Independent hold Details
Skye and Lochalsh Independent Independent hold Details
Stewartry Independent Independent hold Details
Stirling No overall control Labour gain Details
Strathkelvin No overall control Labour gain Details
Sutherland Independent Independent hold Details
Tweeddale Independent Independent hold Details
West Lothian No overall control Labour gain Details
Wigtown Independent Independent hold Details

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1976 United Kingdom local elections</span>

Local elections were held in the United Kingdom on 6 May 1976. Elections were for one third of the seats on Metropolitan borough councils and for all seats on Non-Metropolitan district councils in England; and for all seats on the Welsh district councils.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1991 United Kingdom local elections</span>

The 1991 United Kingdom local elections were held on Thursday 2 May 1991. The results were a setback for the governing Conservative Party, who were left with their lowest number of councillors since 1973, though their popular vote was an improvement from the 1990 local elections.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1990 United Kingdom local elections</span>

The 1990 United Kingdom local elections were held on Thursday 3 May 1990. They were the last local elections held before the resignation of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in November 1990.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1978 United Kingdom local elections</span>

Local elections were held in the United Kingdom in 1978. Elections took place in the London boroughs and metropolitan districts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1979 United Kingdom local elections</span>

Local elections were held in the United Kingdom on 3 May 1979. The results provided some source of comfort to the Labour Party, who recovered some lost ground from local election reversals in previous years, despite losing the general election to the Conservative Party on the same day. The Liberals also gained councillors and a council.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1982 United Kingdom local elections</span>

Local elections were held in the United Kingdom in 1982. The elections coincided with rising popularity of the Conservative government and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, which was mostly attributed to the Falklands War. The projected share of the vote was Conservatives 40%, Labour 29%, Liberal-SDP Alliance 27%.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1983 United Kingdom local elections</span>

Local elections were held in the United Kingdom in 1983. The results were a success for Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who soon afterwards called a general election in which the Conservatives won a landslide victory. The projected share of the vote was Conservative 39%, Labour Party 36%, Liberal-SDP Alliance 20%.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1984 United Kingdom local elections</span>

Local elections were held in the United Kingdom in 1984. There was a slight reversal in the Conservative government's fortunes, but the party remained ahead. The projected share of the vote was Conservatives 38%, Labour 37%, Liberal-SDP Alliance 21%.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1987 United Kingdom local elections</span>

The 1987 United Kingdom local elections were held on Thursday 7 May 1987. It was the first time since 1983 that the Conservatives had enjoyed the largest share of the vote in local council elections.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2018 United Kingdom local elections</span>

The 2018 United Kingdom local elections were held on Thursday 3 May 2018, with local council elections taking place in all 32 London boroughs, 34 metropolitan boroughs, 67 district and borough councils and 17 unitary authorities. There were also direct elections for the mayoralties of Hackney, Lewisham, Newham, Tower Hamlets and Watford.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2022 United Kingdom local elections</span> Elections to local councils and mayoralties

The 2022 United Kingdom local elections took place on Thursday 5 May 2022. These included elections for all London borough councils, for all local authorities in Wales and Scotland. Most seats in England were last up for election in 2018 and in Scotland and Wales in 2017. The elections coincided with the 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election. In 91 cases, most of them in Wales, council seats were uncontested, each having only one candidate. Three seats in Scotland remained unfilled as no one nominated to fill them.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2022 Birmingham City Council election</span> 2022 local election in Birmingham

The 2022 Birmingham City Council election took place on 5 May 2022, with all 101 council seats up for election across 37 single-member and 32 two-member wards. The election was held alongside other local elections across Great Britain and town council elections in Sutton Coldfield.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2022 Camden London Borough Council election</span> 2022 local election in Camden

The 2022 Camden London Borough Council election took place on 5 May 2022. All 55 members of Camden London Borough Council were elected. The elections took place alongside local elections in the other London boroughs and elections to local authorities across the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2022 Hillingdon London Borough Council election</span> 2022 local election in Hillingdon

The 2022 Hillingdon London Borough Council election took place on 5 May 2022. All 53 members of Hillingdon London Borough Council were elected. The elections took place alongside local elections in the other London boroughs and elections to local authorities across the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2022 Bury Metropolitan Borough Council election</span> 2022 local election in Bury

The 2022 Bury Metropolitan Borough Council election took place on 5 May 2022. Due to boundary changes, all 51 councillors were elected at the same time. The election took place alongside other local elections across the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2022 Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council election</span> 2022 local election in Rochdale

The 2022 Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council election took place as of 5 May 2022. Due to boundary changes, all 60 councillors were elected at the same time. The election took place alongside other local elections across the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2022 City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council election</span> 2022 local election in Bradford

The 2022 City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council election took place on 5 May 2022 to elect one third of councillors to the City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council. The election took place at the same time as other local elections across the United Kingdom.

The 2022 Kirklees Metropolitan Borough Council election took place on 5 May 2022. One third of councillors—23 out of 69—on Kirklees Metropolitan Borough Council were elected. The election took place alongside other local elections across the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2023 United Kingdom local elections</span> Elections to local councils and mayoralties

The 2023 United Kingdom local elections were held on Thursday, 4 May 2023 in England and on Thursday 18 May 2023 in Northern Ireland. These included district councils, unitary authorities, and directly elected mayors in England, and included all local councils in Northern Ireland. Notably, these elections were the first to be held under the Elections Act 2022, a new voter identification law that is controversial, meaning voters were required to show photo ID when attending a polling station.

References

Notes
  1. Rallings, Colin; Thrasher, Michael. Local Elections Handbook 1980. The Elections Centre. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
  2. "Council compositions". The Elections Centre. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
Sources