1981 Merseyside County Council election

1981 Merseyside County Council election
All 99 seats; to Merseyside County Council; 50 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	36.9% (1.3%)
Control of Council before election; Conservative;	Control of Council after election ; Labour;

The 1981 Merseyside County Council election took place on 7 May to elect members of Merseyside County Council in England.^[1] This was on the same day as other local elections.

Election results

Overall election result

Overall result compared with 1977.

Merseyside County Council election, 1981
Party		Candidates				Votes
Party		Stood	Elected	Net	% of total	%	№	Net %
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color; width: 3px;" \|	[[Labour Party (UK)\|Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/shortname]]	97	57	31	57.6	45.8	190,757	18.4
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color; width: 3px;" \|	[[Conservative Party (UK)\|Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/shortname]]	99	27	40	27.3	29.3	122,050	25.8
style="background-color: Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color; width: 3px;" \|	[[Liberal Party (UK)\|Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/shortname]]	88	15	9	15.2	24.1	100,218	7.8
style="background-color: Template:Residents Association/meta/color; width: 3px;" \|	[[Residents Association\|Template:Residents Association/meta/shortname]]	2	0		0.0	0.4	1,728	N/A
style="background-color: Template:Ecology Party/meta/color; width: 3px;" \|	[[Ecology Party\|Template:Ecology Party/meta/shortname]]	2	0		0.0	0.1	585	N/A
style="background-color: Template:Communist Party of Great Britain/meta/color; width: 3px;" \|	[[Communist Party of Great Britain\|Template:Communist Party of Great Britain/meta/shortname]]	7	0		0.0	0.1	545	0.5
style="background-color: Template:British Democratic Party/meta/color; width: 3px;" \|	[[British Democratic Party\|Template:British Democratic Party/meta/shortname]]	2	0		0.0	0.1	264	N/A
style="background-color: Template:Independent (politician)/meta/color; width: 3px;" \|	[[Independent (politician)\|Template:Independent (politician)/meta/shortname]]	1	0		0.0	0.0	184	0.1
style="background-color: Template:Independent Liberal/meta/color; width: 3px;" \|	[[Independent Liberal\|Template:Independent Liberal/meta/shortname]]	1	0		0.0	0.0	61

^[1]

Results by borough

Knowsley

Merseyside County Council election, 1981 (Knowsley)
Party		Candidates				Votes
Party		Stood	Elected	Net	% of total	%	№	Net %
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color; width: 3px;" \|	[[Labour Party (UK)\|Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/shortname]]	11	10	3	90.9	68.5	27,110	23.7
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color; width: 3px;" \|	[[Conservative Party (UK)\|Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/shortname]]	11	1	3	9.1	18.6	7,350	29.9
style="background-color: Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color; width: 3px;" \|	[[Liberal Party (UK)\|Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/shortname]]	9	0		0.0	13.0	5,136	9.6

^[1]

Turnout: 31.9% (2.1%)

Liverpool

Merseyside County Council election, 1981 (Liverpool)
Party		Candidates				Votes
Party		Stood	Elected	Net	% of total	%	№	Net %
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color; width: 3px;" \|	[[Labour Party (UK)\|Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/shortname]]	36	21	11	58.3	46.9	67,144	18.7
style="background-color: Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color; width: 3px;" \|	[[Liberal Party (UK)\|Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/shortname]]	36	8	5	22.2	30.9	44,273	7.4
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color; width: 3px;" \|	[[Conservative Party (UK)\|Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/shortname]]	36	7	16	19.4	21.7	31,057	25.3
style="background-color: Template:Communist Party of Great Britain/meta/color; width: 3px;" \|	[[Communist Party of Great Britain\|Template:Communist Party of Great Britain/meta/shortname]]	7	0		0.0	0.4	545	0.5
style="background-color: Template:Independent Liberal/meta/color; width: 3px;" \|	[[Independent Liberal\|Template:Independent Liberal/meta/shortname]]	1	0		0.0	0.0	61	0.1

^[1]

Turnout: 37.1% (3.2%)

Sefton

Merseyside County Council election, 1981 (Sefton)
Party		Candidates				Votes
Party		Stood	Elected	Net	% of total	%	№	Net %
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color; width: 3px;" \|	[[Conservative Party (UK)\|Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/shortname]]	19	9	6	47.4	38.1	31,108	25.6
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color; width: 3px;" \|	[[Labour Party (UK)\|Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/shortname]]	17	6	3	31.6	34.4	28,070	14.2
style="background-color: Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color; width: 3px;" \|	[[Liberal Party (UK)\|Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/shortname]]	15	4	3	21.1	24.8	20,190	10.1
style="background-color: Template:Residents Association/meta/color; width: 3px;" \|	[[Residents Association\|Template:Residents Association/meta/shortname]]	2	0		0.0	2.1	1,728	N/A
style="background-color: Template:Ecology Party/meta/color; width: 3px;" \|	[[Ecology Party\|Template:Ecology Party/meta/shortname]]	1	0		0.0	0.6	474	N/A

^[1]

Turnout: 36.6% (2.6)

St Helens

Merseyside County Council election, 1981 (St Helens)
Party		Candidates				Votes
Party		Stood	Elected	Net	% of total	%	№	Net %
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color; width: 3px;" \|	[[Labour Party (UK)\|Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/shortname]]	11	9	6	81.8	56.8	28,191	20.4
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color; width: 3px;" \|	[[Conservative Party (UK)\|Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/shortname]]	11	2	6	18.2	26.6	13,172	31.4
style="background-color: Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color; width: 3px;" \|	[[Liberal Party (UK)\|Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/shortname]]	8	0		0.0	16.2	8,061	10.6
style="background-color: Template:Independent (politician)/meta/color; width: 3px;" \|	[[Independent (politician)\|Template:Independent (politician)/meta/shortname]]	1	0		0.0	0.4	184	N/A

^[1]

Turnout: 35.7% (1.6%)

Wirral

Merseyside County Council election, 1981 (Wirral)
Party		Candidates				Votes
Party		Stood	Elected	Net	% of total	%	№	Net %
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color; width: 3px;" \|	[[Labour Party (UK)\|Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/shortname]]	22	11	8	50.0	39.2	40,242	18.1
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color; width: 3px;" \|	[[Conservative Party (UK)\|Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/shortname]]	22	8	9	36.4	38.4	39,363	22.0
style="background-color: Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color; width: 3px;" \|	[[Liberal Party (UK)\|Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/shortname]]	20	3	1	13.6	22.0	22,558	4.0
style="background-color: Template:British Democratic Party/meta/color; width: 3px;" \|	[[British Democratic Party\|Template:British Democratic Party/meta/shortname]]	2	0		0.0	0.3	264	N/A
style="background-color: Template:Ecology Party/meta/color; width: 3px;" \|	[[Ecology Party\|Template:Ecology Party/meta/shortname]]	1	0		0.0	0.1	111	N/A

^[1]

Turnout: 39.9% (1.9%)

Notes

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h "Local Election Summaries 1981". The Elections Centre. Retrieved 2 December 2018.

[results-1] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h "Local Election Summaries 1981". The Elections Centre. Retrieved 2 December 2018.

[1]

v t e (1980 ←) 1981 United Kingdom local elections (→ 1982)
County councils (England)	Avon Bedfordshire Berkshire Buckinghamshire Cambridgeshire Cheshire Cleveland Cornwall Cumbria Derbyshire Devon Dorset Durham East Sussex Essex Gloucestershire Hampshire Hereford and Worcester Hertfordshire Humberside Isle of Wight Kent Lancashire Leicestershire Lincolnshire Norfolk North Yorkshire Northamptonshire Northumberland Nottinghamshire Oxfordshire Shropshire Somerset Staffordshire Suffolk Surrey Warwickshire West Sussex Wiltshire
County councils (Wales)	Clwyd Dyfed Gwent Gwynedd Mid Glamorgan Powys South Glamorgan West Glamorgan
Metropolitan counties	Greater Manchester Merseyside South Yorkshire Tyne and Wear West Midlands West Yorkshire
Unicameral area	Greater London
District councils (Northern Ireland)	Antrim Ards Armagh Ballymena Ballymoney Banbridge Belfast Carrickfergus Castlereagh Coleraine Cookstown Craigavon Down Dungannon Fermanagh Larne Limavady Lisburn Londonderry Magherafelt Moyle Newry and Mourne Newtownabbey North Down Omagh Strabane
Sui generis	Isles of Scilly

v t e Local elections in Merseyside
Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council	1973 1975 1976 1978 1979 1980 1982 1983 1984 1986 1987 1988 1990 1991 1992 1994 1995 1996 1998 1999 2000 2002 2003 2004 2006 2007 2008 2010 2011 2012 2014 2015 2016 2018 2019 2021 2022 2023 2024
Liverpool City Council	1835 1836 1837 1838 1839 1840 1841 1842 1843 1844 1845 1846 1847 1848 1849 1850 1851 1852 1853 1854 1855 1856 1857 1858 1859 1860 1861 1862 1863 1864 1865 1866 1867 1868 1869 1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1945 1946 1947 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1975 1976 1978 1979 1980 1982 1983 1984 1986 1987 1988 1990 1991 1992 1994 1995 1996 1998 1999 2000 2002 2003 2004 2006 2007 2008 2010 2011 2012 2014 2015 2016 2018 2019 2021 2023
Mayor of Liverpool	2012 2016 2021 Abolished
Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council	1973 1975 1976 1978 1979 1980 1982 1983 1984 1986 1987 1988 1990 1991 1992 1994 1995 1996 1998 1999 2000 2002 2003 2004 2006 2007 2008 2010 2011 2012 2014 2015 2016 2018 2019 2021 2022 2023 2024
St Helens Metropolitan Borough Council	1973 1975 1976 1978 1979 1980 1982 1983 1984 1986 1987 1988 1990 1991 1992 1994 1995 1996 1998 1999 2000 2002 2003 2004 2006 2007 2008 2010 2011 2012 2014 2015 2016 2018 2019 2021 2022
Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council	1973 1975 1976 1978 1979 1980 1982 1983 1984 1986 1987 1988 1990 1991 1992 1994 1995 1996 1998 1999 2000 2002 2003 2004 2006 2007 2008 2010 2011 2012 2014 2015 2016 2018 2019 2021 2022 2023
Liverpool School Board	1870 1873 1876 1879 1882 1885 1888 1891 1894 1897 1900 Abolished
Merseyside County Council	1973 1977 1981 Abolished
Liverpool City Region Mayor	2017 2021 2024
Police and Crime Commissioner	2012 2016 2021 2024
See also: Wards Boundary changes