1980 United Kingdom local elections

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1980 United Kingdom local elections

← 1979 1 May 1980 1981 →

All 36 metropolitan boroughs, 103 out of 296 English districts and all 53 Scottish districts
  Majority party Minority party Third party
 
Leader Margaret Thatcher James Callaghan David Steel
Party Conservative Labour Liberal
Leader since 11 February 1975 5 April 1976 7 July 1976
Percentage 40% 50% 13%
Swing 601
Councillors 19,238 8,011 1,149
Councillors +/- Decrease 484 Increase 601 Increase 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.

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:

  • Labour gain from no overall control: Amber Valley, Birmingham, Kirklees, Leeds, Peterborough, Rochdale, Walsall, Wolverhampton
  • Labour gain from Conservative: Bolton, Bradford, Hyndburn, Oldham, Oxford, Preston, Tamworth, Worcester
  • Conservative lose to no overall control: Calderdale, Daventry, Dudley, Great Yarmouth, Hastings, Rushmoor, Shrewsbury and Atcham, Weymouth and Portland
  • Liberal gain from Conservative: Adur
  • Independent gain from no overall control: Mole Valley

Summary of results[edit]

England[edit]

Metropolitan boroughs[edit]

Whole council[edit]

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.

Council Previous control Result Details
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[edit]

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

Council Previous control Result Details
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[edit]

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.

Council Previous control Result Details
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[edit]

District councils[edit]

Council Previous control Result Details
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

References[edit]

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