Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council election, 1990

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Map of the results of the 1990 Wigan council election. Wigan87.png
Map of the results of the 1990 Wigan council election.

Elections to the Wigan council were held on Thursday, 3 May 1990, with one third of the seats up for election with an additional vacancy in Bryn. Previous to the election there had also been a by-election in Abram, which the Labour Party successfully defended. Despite a wider array of parties - mainly a product from the fractious SLD merger - contesting the election, in several ways it beat 1986's lows in participation. A record of six seats went uncontested as one quarter of the council's wards held no elections, with the Conservatives contesting one half of the wards (an all-time low) and the SLD one quarter (the lowest since 1979). The Greens repeated their last year's total of four candidates, but with only two in the same wards as previous. Elsewhere, Independent John Vickers fought his first of many elections in Hindley Green and the respective Social Democrat and Liberal sides opposed to Alliance merging into the SLD fielded a sole candidate each - the latter of which having previously came within a straw of winning Langtree for the SLD.

Metropolitan Borough of Wigan Metropolitan borough in England

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.

Conservative Party (UK) Political party in the United Kingdom

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.

Contents

The night seen numerous surprising gains, with Labour gaining another seat in the SLD bastion of Langtree, and for the first time, in the Conservative's bastion of Swinley, whilst the SLD managed its own breakthrough in the Labour territory of Hope Carr. With dwindling hopes of ever regaining Orrell, Swinley had become the Conservative's bulwark in recent years, and the Labour gain here raised the prospects of Conservative representation being removed altogether from the council. The loss of Hope Carr denied Labour a clean-sweep, but they managed an all-time high of winning all-but-one of the wards, and bettering their last year's record in voter share. Overall turnout in those wards contesting rose to a local elections high (with the 1979 election omitted for coinciding with the general election) of 39.4%. [1]

Orrell, Greater Manchester human settlement in United Kingdom

Orrell is a village and a ward of the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The population of the ward had fallen at the 2011 Census to 11,513. The centre of the area lies 3 miles (4.8 km) to the west of Wigan town centre and serves as a predominantly residential suburb of Wigan. The area is contiguous with the district of Pemberton.

Election result

Wigan Local Election Result 1990
PartySeatsGainsLossesNet gain/lossSeats %Votes %Votes+/−
  Labour 24 2 1 +1 96.0 69.2 48,633 +0.6%
  Social and Liberal Democrats 1 1 1 0 4.0 11.2 7,852 -1.4%
  Conservative 0 0 1 -1 0.0 13.2 9,288 -3.9%
  Green 0 0 0 0 0.0 3.3 2,320 +1.8%
  Liberal 0 0 0 0 0.0 1.6 1,153 +1.6%
  Independent 0 0 0 0 0.0 0.9 663 +0.9%
  SDP 0 0 0 0 0.0 0.5 391 +0.5%

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

PartyPrevious councilNew council
Labour 63 64
Social and Liberal Democrats 5 5
Conservatives 3 2
Independent Labour 1 1
Green 0 0
Liberal 0 0
Independent 0 0
Social Democrat 0 0
Total 72 72
Working majority 54  56 

Ward results

Abram [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%±
Labour J. Tiernan UnopposedN/AN/A
Labour hold Swing N/A
Ashton-Golborne [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%±
Labour S. Lea 2,844 79.0 +0.8
Conservative I. Cunliffe 756 21.0 -0.8
Majority 2,088 58.0 +1.7
Turnout 3,600 36.7 +8.7
Labour hold Swing +0.8
Aspull-Standish [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%±
Labour J. Hilton 2,681 53.3 +5.4
Social and Liberal Democrats D. Brown 1,518 30.2 -5.6
Conservative J. Carrington 831 16.5 +0.2
Majority 1,163 23.1 +11.0
Turnout 5,030 46.1 +2.6
Labour hold Swing +5.5
Atherton [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%±
Labour L. Sumner 2,594 80.3 -1.5
Green S. Bickerton 636 19.7 +19.7
Majority 1,958 60.6 -3.0
Turnout 3,230 35.3 -0.6
Labour hold Swing -10.6
Bedford-Astley [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%±
Labour F. Walker 2,380 70.4 +7.9
Green I. Graham 998 29.5 +19.6
Majority 1,382 40.9 +5.9
Turnout 3,378 33.9 +2.4
Labour hold Swing -5.8
Beech Hill [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%±
Labour T. Bishop 2,095 51.1 +6.3
Social and Liberal Democrats V. Milton 2,001 48.8 +1.1
Majority 94 2.3 -0.6
Turnout 4,096 46.5 +5.6
Labour hold Swing +2.6
Bryn [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%±
Labour A. Melling 2,783 80.7 -1.2
Labour M. Millington 2,411
Conservative B. Smith 663 19.2 +1.2
Majority 2,120 61.5 -2.4
Turnout 3,446 34.8 +3.6
Labour hold Swing
Labour hold Swing -1.2
Hindley [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%±
Labour G. Green 2,656 74.7 -12.5
Social and Liberal Democrats C. Barton 558 15.7 +15.7
Green A. Wood 342 9.6 -3.2
Majority 2,098 59.0 -15.3
Turnout 3,556 36.9 +8.4
Labour hold Swing -14.1
Hindley Green [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%±
Labour W. Simmons 2,741 72.2 -8.3
Independent J. Vickers 663 17.5 +17.5
SDP V. Norris 391 10.3 +10.3
Majority 2,078 54.7 -6.4
Turnout 3,795 32.6 +8.5
Labour hold Swing -12.9
Hindsford [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%±
Labour A. Wright UnopposedN/AN/A
Labour hold Swing N/A
Hope Carr [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%±
Social and Liberal Democrats E. Herdman 1,956 51.1 +51.1
Labour P. Culshaw 1,870 48.9 -14.1
Majority 86 2.2 -23.7
Turnout 3,826 37.8 +4.6
Social and Liberal Democrats gain from Labour Swing +32.6
Ince [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%±
Labour T. Davies UnopposedN/AN/A
Labour hold Swing N/A
Langtree [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%±
Labour J. O'Neill 2,606 49.4 +7.6
Liberal K. White 1,153 21.8 +21.8
Social and Liberal Democrats A. Robinson 899 17.0 -24.8
Conservative J. Wolstenholme 618 11.7 -4.6
Majority 1,453 27.5 +27.5
Turnout 5,276 47.0 +4.9
Labour gain from Social and Liberal Democrats Swing -7.1
Leigh Central [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%±
Labour P. Smith UnopposedN/AN/A
Labour hold Swing N/A
Leigh East [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%±
Labour T. Harper UnopposedN/AN/A
Labour hold Swing N/A
Lightshaw [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%±
Labour T. Sherratt 3,538 75.9 +2.6
Conservative S. Hide 1,122 24.1 +5.6
Majority 2,416 51.8 -3.0
Turnout 4,660 43.8 +7.0
Labour hold Swing -1.5
Newtown [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%±
Labour K. Pye 3,254 89.6 +3.1
Conservative J. Whitehead 378 10.4 -3.1
Majority 2,876 79.2 +6.2
Turnout 3,632 39.2 +9.3
Labour hold Swing +3.1
Norley [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%±
Labour N. Turner 3,102 93.2 +4.6
Conservative G. Peach 227 6.8 +0.5
Majority 2,875 86.3 +4.2
Turnout 3,329 43.0 +9.5
Labour hold Swing +2.0
Orrell [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%±
Labour G. Seaward 2,719 68.0 +8.2
Conservative C. Michaels 1,276 31.9 -8.2
Majority 1,443 36.1 +16.3
Turnout 3,995 39.0 +2.0
Labour hold Swing +8.2
Swinley [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%±
Labour S. Turner 2,282 52.1 +13.2
Conservative C. Giles 2,095 47.8 -0.4
Majority 187 4.3 -5.1
Turnout 4,377 49.1 +2.4
Labour gain from Conservative Swing +6.8
Tyldesley East [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%±
Labour B. Wilson UnopposedN/AN/A
Labour hold Swing N/A
Whelley [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%±
Labour W. Pendleton 2,686 78.9 -2.5
Conservative F. Sidebotham 373 10.9 -0.6
Green J. Ford 344 10.1 +10.1
Majority 2,313 68.0 -1.9
Turnout 3,403 38.1 +7.7
Labour hold Swing -0.9
Winstanley [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%±
Labour W. Evans 2,799 63.3 +9.2
Social and Liberal Democrats P. Mayston 920 20.8 -25.1
Conservative J. Horswell 701 15.8 +15.8
Majority 1,879 42.5 +34.3
Turnout 4,420 37.5 +5.4
Labour hold Swing +17.1
Worsley Mesnes [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%±
Labour H. Milligan 3,003 92.4 +6.5
Conservative J. Grimshaw 248 7.6 -6.5
Majority 2,755 84.7 +13.1
Turnout 3,251 33.1 +7.8
Labour hold Swing +6.5

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