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.
The Metropolitan Borough of Wigan is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, in North West England. It is named after its largest component town and former county borough, Wigan and includes the towns and villages of Leigh, part of Ashton-in-Makerfield, Ince-in-Makerfield, Hindley, Orrell, Standish, Atherton, Tyldesley, Golborne, Lowton, Billinge, Astley, Haigh and Aspull. The borough was formed in 1974 and is an amalgamation of several former local government districts and parishes. The borough has three civil parishes and lies directly to the west of the City of Salford and southwest of the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton. The local authority is Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council.
The Labour Party is a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom that has been described as an alliance of social democrats, democratic socialists and trade unionists. The party's platform emphasises greater state intervention, social justice and strengthening workers' rights.
Ince-in-Makerfield or Ince is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, in Greater Manchester, England. The population of the Ince ward at the 2011 census was 13,486, but a southern part of Ince was also listed under the Abram ward. Adding on this area brings the total in 2011 to 15,664.
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 the 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]
The Conservative Party, officially the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom. The governing party since 2010, it is the largest in the House of Commons, with 313 Members of Parliament, and also has 249 members of the House of Lords, 18 members of the European Parliament, 31 Members of the Scottish Parliament, 12 members of the Welsh Assembly, eight members of the London Assembly and 8,916 local councillors.
Aspull is a village in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, in Greater Manchester, England. Historically in Lancashire, Aspull, along with Haigh, is surrounded by greenbelt and agricultural land, separated from Westhoughton, on its southeast side, by a brook running through Borsdane Wood. The ground rises from south to north, reaching 400 feet (122 m), and has views towards Winter Hill and the West Pennine Moors. It has a population of 4,977.
Standish is a large village in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. Historically in Lancashire, it is on the A49 road between Chorley and Wigan, near Junction 27 of the M6 motorway. The population of the village was 13,278 in the 2011 census.
Party | Seats | Gains | Losses | Net gain/loss | Seats % | Votes % | Votes | +/− | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | 23 | 2 | 1 | +1 | 92.0 | 68.6 | 52,325 | +9.3% | |
Conservative | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.0 | 17.1 | 13,083 | +1.8% | |
Social and Liberal Democrats | 1 | 1 | 2 | -1 | 4.0 | 12.6 | 9,640 | -10.5% | |
Green | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 1.5 | 1,155 | +1.5% | |
Communist | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 62 | +0.1% | |
This result had the following consequences for the total number of seats on the Council after the elections:
Party | Previous council | New council | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | 62 | 63 | |||
Social and Liberal Democrats | 6 | 5 | |||
Conservatives | 3 | 3 | |||
Independent Labour | 1 | 1 | |||
Green | 0 | 0 | |||
Communist | 0 | 0 | |||
Total | 72 | 72 | |||
Working majority | 52 | 54 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | A. Bennett | 2,094 | 86.8 | +6.8 | |
Green | P. Tarleton | 319 | 13.2 | +13.2 | |
Majority | 1,775 | 73.5 | +4.8 | ||
Turnout | 2,413 | 25.2 | -9.6 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | -3.2 | |||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | T. Jones | 2,140 | 78.1 | +12.8 | |
Conservative | S. Edwards | 598 | 21.8 | +0.6 | |
Majority | 1,542 | 56.3 | +12.2 | ||
Turnout | 2,738 | 27.9 | -6.6 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | +6.1 | |||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | A. Durkin | 2,201 | 47.9 | +6.6 | |
Social and Liberal Democrats | P. Wilson | 1,645 | 35.8 | -6.2 | |
Conservative | K. Hart | 751 | 16.3 | -0.4 | |
Majority | 556 | 12.1 | +11.4 | ||
Turnout | 4,597 | 43.5 | -5.9 | ||
Labour gain from Social and Liberal Democrats | Swing | +6.4 | |||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | J. Clark | 2,755 | 81.8 | +5.6 | |
Conservative | M. Hatton | 613 | 18.2 | -5.6 | |
Majority | 2,142 | 63.6 | +11.3 | ||
Turnout | 3,368 | 35.9 | +0.9 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | +5.6 | |||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | J. Jones | 1,954 | 62.5 | +4.0 | |
Conservative | D. Angell | 861 | 27.5 | +27.5 | |
Green | S. Philbrock | 310 | 9.9 | +9.9 | |
Majority | 1,093 | 35.0 | +18.0 | ||
Turnout | 3,125 | 31.5 | -2.7 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | -11.7 | |||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Social and Liberal Democrats | J. McGarty | 1,725 | 47.7 | +18.8 | |
Labour | T. Bishop | 1,621 | 44.9 | -12.3 | |
Social and Liberal Democrats | L. Marshall | 1,603 | |||
Labour | S. Turner | 1,437 | |||
Conservative | E. Bispham | 266 | 7.4 | -6.4 | |
Conservative | J. Whitehead | 194 | |||
Majority | 104 | 2.9 | -25.3 | ||
Turnout | 3,612 | 40.9 | +4.8 | ||
Social and Liberal Democrats gain from Labour | Swing | +15.5 | |||
Labour hold | Swing | ||||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | C. Brown | 2,532 | 82.0 | +9.1 | |
Conservative | R. Clayton | 557 | 18.0 | +3.0 | |
Majority | 1,975 | 63.9 | +6.1 | ||
Turnout | 3,089 | 31.3 | -6.2 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | +3.0 | |||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | A. Robinson | 2,394 | 87.2 | +54.5 | |
Green | A. Wood | 352 | 12.8 | +12.8 | |
Majority | 2,042 | 74.3 | +52.8 | ||
Turnout | 2,746 | 28.5 | -7.9 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | +20.8 | |||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | S. Murphy | 2,198 | 80.6 | +8.4 | |
Social and Liberal Democrats | J. Cranfield | 530 | 19.4 | -8.4 | |
Majority | 1,668 | 61.1 | +16.9 | ||
Turnout | 2,728 | 24.1 | -4.1 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | +8.4 | |||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | W. Smith | 2,543 | 78.6 | +14.6 | |
Conservative | M. Sharland | 691 | 21.4 | +21.4 | |
Majority | 1,852 | 57.3 | +29.3 | ||
Turnout | 3,234 | 30.2 | -1.7 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | -3.4 | |||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | A. Roberts | 2,013 | 63.0 | +7.1 | |
Conservative | E. Manson | 1,183 | 37.0 | +5.8 | |
Majority | 830 | 26.0 | +1.3 | ||
Turnout | 3,196 | 32.1 | -4.0 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | +0.6 | |||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | J. Horrocks | 2,074 | 89.0 | +1.2 | |
Conservative | D. Edwards | 165 | 7.1 | +1.1 | |
Social and Liberal Democrats | S. Cairns | 92 | 3.9 | -2.4 | |
Majority | 1,909 | 81.9 | +0.5 | ||
Turnout | 2,331 | 29.3 | -4.7 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | +0.0 | |||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | J. Ball | 1,924 | 41.8 | +2.9 | |
Social and Liberal Democrats | K. White | 1,924 | 41.8 | -2.5 | |
Conservative | J. Wolstenholme | 753 | 16.4 | -0.4 | |
Majority | 0 | 0.0 | -5.5 | ||
Turnout | 4,601 | 42.0 | -4.3 | ||
Labour gain from Social and Liberal Democrats | Swing | +2.9 | |||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | G. Macdonald | 2,032 | 82.1 | N/A | |
Conservative | M. Turner | 380 | 15.3 | N/A | |
Communist | H. Kedward | 62 | 2.5 | N/A | |
Majority | 1,652 | 66.8 | N/A | ||
Turnout | 2,474 | 27.6 | N/A | ||
Labour hold | Swing | N/A | |||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | J. Riley | 1,973 | 70.9 | +9.2 | |
Conservative | M. Stewart | 810 | 29.1 | +5.1 | |
Majority | 1,163 | 41.8 | +4.1 | ||
Turnout | 2,783 | 27.0 | -2.3 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | +2.0 | |||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | N. Holt | 2,857 | 73.3 | +14.7 | |
Conservative | J. Wright | 721 | 18.5 | -7.6 | |
Social and Liberal Democrats | J. Wilson | 318 | 8.2 | -7.1 | |
Majority | 2,136 | 54.8 | +22.3 | ||
Turnout | 3,896 | 36.8 | -2.1 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | +11.1 | |||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | C. Hitchen | 2,352 | 86.5 | +9.5 | |
Conservative | I. Nicholson | 368 | 13.5 | +0.1 | |
Majority | 1,984 | 72.9 | +9.3 | ||
Turnout | 2,720 | 29.9 | -4.6 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | +4.7 | |||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | E. Maddocks | 2,337 | 88.5 | +3.0 | |
Conservative | J. Carrington | 167 | 6.3 | -0.4 | |
Social and Liberal Democrats | R. Richardson | 136 | 5.1 | -2.6 | |
Majority | 2,170 | 82.2 | +4.4 | ||
Turnout | 2,640 | 33.5 | -4.0 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | +1.7 | |||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | E. Swift | 2,262 | 59.9 | +13.5 | |
Conservative | W. Smith | 1,515 | 40.1 | +8.0 | |
Majority | 747 | 19.8 | +5.5 | ||
Turnout | 3,777 | 37.0 | -3.8 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | +2.7 | |||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | W. Chadwick | 2,019 | 48.3 | +8.3 | |
Labour | M. Gallagher | 1,627 | 38.9 | +1.9 | |
Social and Liberal Democrats | W. Claypole | 359 | 8.6 | -14.4 | |
Green | G. Wood | 174 | 4.1 | +4.1 | |
Majority | 392 | 3.4 | +6.4 | ||
Turnout | 4,179 | 46.7 | -6.3 | ||
Conservative hold | Swing | +3.2 | |||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | A. Stephenson | 2,086 | 67.5 | +11.5 | |
Social and Liberal Democrats | A. Shaw | 1,003 | 32.5 | -11.5 | |
Majority | 1,083 | 35.0 | +23.0 | ||
Turnout | 3,089 | 28.7 | -6.9 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | +11.5 | |||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | A. Coyle | 2,174 | 81.4 | +4.4 | |
Conservative | F. Sidebotham | 310 | 11.6 | -0.6 | |
Social and Liberal Democrats | L. Peet | 185 | 6.9 | -3.8 | |
Majority | 1,864 | 69.8 | +5.0 | ||
Turnout | 2,669 | 30.3 | -5.7 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | +2.5 | |||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | R. Winkworth | 2,031 | 54.1 | +11.8 | |
Social and Liberal Democrats | C. Hilton | 1,723 | 45.9 | +1.1 | |
Majority | 308 | 8.2 | +5.7 | ||
Turnout | 3,754 | 32.1 | -10.1 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | +5.3 | |||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | W. Brogan | 2,151 | 85.8 | +12.1 | |
Conservative | J. Grimshaw | 355 | 14.2 | +4.8 | |
Majority | 1,796 | 71.7 | +14.9 | ||
Turnout | 2,506 | 25.3 | -6.2 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | +3.6 | |||
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