1988 Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council election

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Map of the results of the 1988 Wigan council election. Wigan86.png
Map of the results of the 1988 Wigan council election.

Elections to the Wigan council were held on Thursday, 5 May 1988, with one third of the seats up for election as well as an extra vacancy in Beech Hill. Following the previous election, two by-elections had taken place, with the Labour Party successfully defending their seats in Ince and Newtown. This year's election seen an improvement in participation, with all wards fought and five parties contesting in some form, by way of the Greens fielding their first ever slate of four candidates and the return of long-time Communist contender H. Kedward in Leigh Central. Despite this, the number of candidates contesting actually fell by five from the previous year's 64, as the turbulent new merger of the old SDP-Liberal Alliance, Social and Liberal Democrats, fielded just half the number of candidates they'd managed in 1987 and, at 11, the lowest since 1980.

Contents

This was reflected by the results on the night as the SLD suffered a large drop in their vote, returning them to third place behind the Conservatives and reducing their vote total to four figure for the first time since the aforementioned 1980 election. The overwhelming beneficiary of SLD losses were Labour, helping their vote share hit a record high of 68.6% and the highest vote figure gained - beyond the anomaly of 1979 - since the council's creation. Seat wise, Labour made two gains of the night, one in the SLD-Labour marginal of Aspull-Standish and the other in the more significant SLD bastion of Langtree, which until this point had only elected SLD candidates, where Labour managed to equal SLD votes and draw the larger straw. Labour achieved a record capture of seats, with opposition wins curtailed to an exceptional SLD performance - and gain - of one of the seats fought in Beech Hill and a Conservative hold in their bastion of Swinley. Overall turnout fell from 37.1% to 32.4%. [1]

Election result

Wigan Local Election Result 1988
PartySeatsGainsLossesNet gain/lossSeats %Votes %Votes+/−
  Labour 2321+192.068.652,325+9.3
  Conservative 10004.017.113,083+1.8
  SLD 112-14.012.69,640-10.5
  Green 00000.01.51,155+1.5
  Communist 00000.00.162+0.1

This result had the following consequences for the total number of seats on the Council after the elections:

PartyPrevious councilNew council
Labour6263
Social and Liberal Democrats65
Conservatives33
Independent Labour11
Green00
Communist00
Total7272
Working majority 52  54 

Ward results

Abram [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour A. Bennett2,09486.8+6.8
Green P. Tarleton31913.2+13.2
Majority 1,77573.5+4.8
Turnout 2,41325.2−9.6
Labour hold Swing -3.2
Ashton-Golborne [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour T. Jones2,14078.1+12.8
Conservative S. Edwards59821.8+0.6
Majority 1,54256.3+12.2
Turnout 2,73827.9−6.6
Labour hold Swing +6.1
Aspull-Standish [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour A. Durkin2,20147.9+6.6
SLD P. Wilson1,64535.8−6.2
Conservative K. Hart75116.3−0.4
Majority 55612.1+11.4
Turnout 4,59743.5−5.9
Labour gain from SLD Swing +6.4
Atherton [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour J. Clark2,75581.8+5.6
Conservative M. Hatton61318.2−5.6
Majority 2,14263.6+11.3
Turnout 3,36835.9+0.9
Labour hold Swing +5.6
Bedford-Astley [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour J. Jones1,95462.5+4.0
Conservative D. Angell86127.5+27.5
Green S. Philbrock3109.9+9.9
Majority 1,09335.0+18.0
Turnout 3,12531.5−2.7
Labour hold Swing -11.7
Beech Hill [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
SLD J. McGarty1,72547.7+18.8
Labour T. Bishop1,62144.9−12.3
SLD L. Marshall1,603
Labour S. Turner1,437
Conservative E. Bispham2667.4−6.4
Conservative J. Whitehead194
Majority 1042.9−25.3
Turnout 3,61240.9+4.8
SLD gain from Labour Swing +15.5
Labour hold Swing
Bryn [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour C. Brown2,53282.0+9.1
Conservative R. Clayton55718.0+3.0
Majority 1,97563.9+6.1
Turnout 3,08931.3−6.2
Labour hold Swing +3.0
Hindley [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour A. Robinson2,39487.2+54.5
Green A. Wood35212.8+12.8
Majority 2,04274.3+52.8
Turnout 2,74628.5−7.9
Labour hold Swing +20.8
Hindley Green [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour S. Murphy2,19880.6+8.4
SLD J. Cranfield53019.4−8.4
Majority 1,66861.1+16.9
Turnout 2,72824.1−4.1
Labour hold Swing +8.4
Hindsford [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour W. Smith2,54378.6+14.6
Conservative M. Sharland69121.4+21.4
Majority 1,85257.3+29.3
Turnout 3,23430.2−1.7
Labour hold Swing -3.4
Hope Carr [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour A. Roberts2,01363.0+7.1
Conservative E. Manson1,18337.0+5.8
Majority 83026.0+1.3
Turnout 3,19632.1−4.0
Labour hold Swing +0.6
Ince [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour J. Horrocks2,07489.0+1.2
Conservative D. Edwards1657.1+1.1
SLD S. Cairns923.9−2.4
Majority 1,90981.9+0.5
Turnout 2,33129.3−4.7
Labour hold Swing +0.0
Langtree [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour J. Ball1,92441.8+2.9
SLD K. White1,92441.8−2.5
Conservative J. Wolstenholme75316.4−0.4
Majority 00.0−5.5
Turnout 4,60142.0−4.3
Labour gain from SLD Swing +2.9
Leigh Central [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour G. Macdonald2,03282.1N/A
Conservative M. Turner38015.3N/A
Communist H. Kedward622.5N/A
Majority 1,65266.8N/A
Turnout 2,47427.6N/A
Labour hold Swing N/A
Leigh East [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour J. Riley1,97370.9+9.2
Conservative M. Stewart81029.1+5.1
Majority 1,16341.8+4.1
Turnout 2,78327.0−2.3
Labour hold Swing +2.0
Lightshaw [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour N. Holt2,85773.3+14.7
Conservative J. Wright72118.5−7.6
SLD J. Wilson3188.2−7.1
Majority 2,13654.8+22.3
Turnout 3,89636.8−2.1
Labour hold Swing +11.1
Newtown [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour C. Hitchen2,35286.5+9.5
Conservative I. Nicholson36813.5+0.1
Majority 1,98472.9+9.3
Turnout 2,72029.9−4.6
Labour hold Swing +4.7
Norley [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour E. Maddocks2,33788.5+3.0
Conservative J. Carrington1676.3−0.4
SLD R. Richardson1365.1−2.6
Majority 2,17082.2+4.4
Turnout 2,64033.5−4.0
Labour hold Swing +1.7
Orrell [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour E. Swift2,26259.9+13.5
Conservative W. Smith1,51540.1+8.0
Majority 74719.8+5.5
Turnout 3,77737.0−3.8
Labour hold Swing +2.7
Swinley [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative W. Chadwick2,01948.3+8.3
Labour M. Gallagher1,62738.9+1.9
SLD W. Claypole3598.6−14.4
Green G. Wood1744.1+4.1
Majority 3923.4+6.4
Turnout 4,17946.7−6.3
Conservative hold Swing +3.2
Tyldesley East [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour A. Stephenson2,08667.5+11.5
SLD A. Shaw1,00332.5−11.5
Majority 1,08335.0+23.0
Turnout 3,08928.7−6.9
Labour hold Swing +11.5
Whelley [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour A. Coyle2,17481.4+4.4
Conservative F. Sidebotham31011.6−0.6
SLD L. Peet1856.9−3.8
Majority 1,86469.8+5.0
Turnout 2,66930.3−5.7
Labour hold Swing +2.5
Winstanley [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour R. Winkworth2,03154.1+11.8
SLD C. Hilton1,72345.9+1.1
Majority 3088.2+5.7
Turnout 3,75432.1−10.1
Labour hold Swing +5.3
Worsley Mesnes [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour W. Brogan2,15185.8+12.1
Conservative J. Grimshaw35514.2+4.8
Majority 1,79671.7+14.9
Turnout 2,50625.3−6.2
Labour hold Swing +3.6

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 "Wigan Council results from 1973 to 2008" (PDF). wigan.gov.uk. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 November 2011. Retrieved 30 January 2012.