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1980 Scottish local elections
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| Field | Value | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| election_name | 1980 Scottish local elections | ||
| country | Scotland | ||
| type | parliamentary | ||
| ongoing | no | ||
| previous_election | 1978 Scottish regional elections | ||
| previous_year | 1978 | ||
| next_election | 1982 Scottish regional elections | ||
| next_year | 1982 | ||
| election_date | |||
| image1 | [[File:James Callaghan ppmsca.53218 (cropped).tif | 150x150px | ]] |
| leader1 | James Callaghan | ||
| leader_since1 | 5 April 1976 | ||
| party1 | Labour Party (UK) | ||
| seats1 | **469** | ||
| seat_change1 | 187 | ||
| popular_vote1 | **45.4%** | ||
| swing1 | 13.8 | ||
| image2 | [[File:Margaret Thatcher (1983).jpg | 150x150px | Margaret Thatcher]] |
| leader2 | Margaret Thatcher | ||
| leader_since2 | 11 February 1975 | ||
| party2 | Conservative Party (UK) | ||
| seats2 | 232 | ||
| seat_change2 | 27 | ||
| popular_vote2 | 24.1% | ||
| swing2 | 3.1 | ||
| image4 | [[File:Winnie_Ewing_and_Gordon_Wilson_Brussels_(cropped).jpg | 150x150px | Gordon Wilson]] |
| leader4 | Gordon Wilson | ||
| leader_since4 | 1979 | ||
| party4 | Scottish National Party | ||
| seats4 | 52 | ||
| seat_change4 | 118 | ||
| popular_vote4 | 15.5% | ||
| swing4 | 8.7 | ||
| image5 | [[File:DavidSteel1987 cropped.jpg | 150x150px | David Steel]] |
| leader5 | David Steel | ||
| leader_since5 | 7 July 1976 | ||
| party5 | Liberal Party (UK) | ||
| seats5 | 33 | ||
| seat_change5 | 29 | ||
| popular_vote5 | 6.2% | ||
| swing5 | 2.2 | ||
| map_image | Scottish District local elections, 1980.svg | ||
| map_size | 350px | ||
| map_caption | Colours denote the winning party with outright control |
Elections for the Scottish district councils were held in 1980.
These were the third elections held to the 53 district councils established by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973. The previous elections had been held in 1977. The elections took place a year after the Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher had come to power. The local elections, which also took place in England and Wales, were seen as the first electoral test of the Thatcher ministry.
Background
The poll was held on 1 May and all 1,182 district council seats were to be filled. Districts formed the second tier in local government in Scotland under the 1975 reorganisation, with regional councils forming the upper tier. It was intended that elections would normally take place on a four-year cycle. Regional elections were also to be on a four-year cycle, held midway between district elections.
Party performance
Labour had a very good electoral performance, more than regaining the ground they had lost at the 1977 elections. They gained 18 councils: 3 from the Scottish National Party, one from Liberals and 14 from no overall control. Notable gains were the cities of Aberdeen, Dundee and Glasgow. The Conservatives suffered the loss of Edinburgh but held another six councils. The SNP vote collapsed and they lost control of the three councils they controlled. In a number of councils all of the party's sitting councillors were defeated, most notably in Glasgow where they lost all 16 seats they held. The Liberal Party lost the only council they controlled.
|- !colspan=2|Parties !Votes !Votes % !Wards |- | | |45.4
| 469 |
|---|
| | |24.1
| 232 |
|---|
| | |15.5
| 52 |
|---|
| | |6.2
| 33 |
|---|
| |8.9 | |- !colspan=2|Total!! !! !! |}
Results by region
The seats on each council before and after the election were as follows:
Borders
| District | Labour | Conservative | Liberal | Independent | Other | Control | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Berwickshire | Ettrick and Lauderdale | Roxburgh | Tweeddale | |||||||
| 1 (+1) | 11 (−1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | hold | |||||
| 0 | 1 | 0 (−1) | 14 (+1) | 0 | hold | |||||
| 0 (−1) | 5 (+3) | 0 | 11 (−2) | 0 | hold | |||||
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 | hold |
Central
| District | Labour | Conservative | SNP | Liberal | Independent | Other | Control | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clackmannan | Falkirk | Stirling | ||||||||
| 7 (+3) | 1 | 4 (−3) | 0 | 0 | 0 | gain from SNP | ||||
| 27 (+19) | 2 | 4 (−17) | 0 | 2 (−1) | Independent Labour 1 | |||||
| Independent Scottish Nationalist 0 (−1) | gain from SNP | |||||||||
| 10 (+3) | 9 | 0 (−3) | 0 | 1 (+1) | Independent Conservative 0 (−1) | gain from NOC |
Dumfries and Galloway
| District | Labour | Conservative | SNP | Independent | Control | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Annandale and Eskdale | Nithsdale | Stewartry | Wigtown | ||||||
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 16 | hold | |||||
| 5 (+1) | 5 (+5) | 4 | 14 (−6) | hold | |||||
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | hold | |||||
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 | hold |
Fife
| District | Labour | Conservative | SNP | Liberal | Independent | Other | Control | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dunfermline | Kirkcaldy | North-East Fife | ||||||||
| 22 (+3) | 5 (−2) | 1 (−1) | 1 (+1) | 1 (−1) | 0 | hold | ||||
| 23 (+7) | 3 (−2) | 4 (−4) | 0 | 3 | Ratepayers 3 (−1) | gain from NOC | ||||
| 5 (+4) | 11 (−5) | 0 | 0 | 2 (+1) | 0 | hold |
Grampian
| District | Labour | Conservative | SNP | Liberal | Independent | Control | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Banff and Buchan | City of Aberdeen | Gordon | Kincardine and Deeside | Moray | |||||||
| 1 (+1) | 0 | 5 (+4) | 0 | 12 (−5) | hold | ||||||
| 27 (+5) | 13 (−2) | 0 (−2) | 8 (−1) | 0 | gain from NOC | ||||||
| 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 | No overall control | ||||||
| 0 | 2 (−1) | 0 | 1 (+1) | 9 | hold | ||||||
| 0 | 0 | 3 (−1) | 0 | 15 (+1) | hold |
Highland
| District | Labour | Conservative | SNP | Liberal | Independent | Control | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Badenoch and Strathspey | Caithness‡ | Inverness‡ | Lochaber | Nairn | Ross and Cromarty | Skye and Lochalsh | ||||||||
| *2 vacancies* | Sutherland | |||||||||||||
| *1 vacancy* | ||||||||||||||
| 0 | 0 | 2 (+2) | 0 | 8 (−2) | hold | |||||||||
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 13 | hold | |||||||||
| 8 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 17 | hold | |||||||||
| 4 (+1) | 0 | 0 (−1) | 0 | 8 | hold | |||||||||
| 0 | 0 | 0 (−2) | 0 | 10 | hold | |||||||||
| 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 19 | hold | |||||||||
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | hold | |||||||||
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | hold |
‡ Changes in ward boundaries
Lothian
| District | Labour | Conservative | SNP | Liberal | Independent | Control | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| City of Edinburgh‡ | East Lothian | Midlothian | West Lothian | |||||||
| 25 | 31 | 2 | 2 | 2 | Conservatives lose to NOC | |||||
| 10 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | hold | |||||
| 13 (+6) | 0 (−1) | 0 (−4) | 1 (+1) | 1 (−1) | gain from NOC | |||||
| 15 (+7) | 0 | 4 (−6) | 0 | 2 (−1) | gain from NOC |
‡ Changes in ward boundaries
Strathclyde
| District | Labour | Conservative | SNP | Liberal | Independent | Others | Control | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Argyll and Bute | Bearsden and Milngavie | Clydebank | Cumbernauld and Kilsyth | Cumnock and Doon Valley | Cunninghame‡ | Dumbarton | East Kilbride | Eastwood | City of Glasgow | Hamilton | Inverclyde | Kilmarnock and Loudoun | Kyle and Carrick | Lanark | Motherwell | Monklands | Renfrew | Strathkelvin | ||||||||
| 1 (+1) | 2 (−2) | 3 | 0 | 20 (+1) | 0 | hold | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2 (+1) | 6 (−1) | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | hold | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 8 (+5) | 1 | 0 (−5) | 0 | 0 | Scottish Labour 1 | gain from NOC | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 6 (+1) | 0 | 4 (−1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | gain from SNP | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 8 (+2) | 0 (−1) | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | hold | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 21 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 1 | Moderate Conservatives 1 | gain from NOC | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 8 (+4) | 3 (−1) | 2 (−2) | 0 | 2 (−1) | 0 | gain from NOC | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 12 (+8) | 2 | 1 (−6) | 0 | 0 (−2) | 0 | gain from NOC | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Ratepayers 2 | hold | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 58 (+26) | 11 (−12) | 0 (−16) | 3 (+2) | 0 | 0 | gain from NOC | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 17 (+7) | 1 | 0 (−6) | 2 | 0 (−1) | 0 | hold | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 13 (+5) | 1 | 0 (−1) | 9 (−4) | 0 | 0 | gain from Liberals | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 11 (+4) | 5 (−2) | 0 (−2) | 0 | 0 | 0 | gain from NOC | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 13 (+6) | 12 (−5) | 0 (−1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | gain from NOC | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 5 (+1) | 0 | 2 (−1) | 0 | 0 | Independent Progressives 7 | NOC | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 21 (+2) | 3 (−2) | 3 | 0 (−1) | 01 (=1) | Communist 1 | hold | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 18 (+5) | 3 (−3) | 0 (−1) | 0 | 0 (−1) | 0 | hold | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 34 (+20) | 4 (-7) | 1 (-10) | 0 | 1 (-2) | Independent Labour 0 (-1) | gain from NOC | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 10 (+6) | 4 | 0 (−6) | 0 | 0 | 0 | gain from NOC |
Tayside
| District | Labour | Conservative | SNP | Liberal | Independent | Others | Control | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Angus | City of Dundee | Perth and Kinross | ||||||||
| 3 | 12 (+1) | 0 | 0 | 7 (−1) | 0 | hold | ||||
| 25 (+4) | 26 (−2) | 0 | 0 | 1 (−1) | Ratepayer-Conservatives 11 (−1) | |||||
| Independent Ratepayers-Conservatives 1 (+1) | ||||||||||
| Progressive Conservatives 0 (−1) | gain from NOC | |||||||||
| 5 (+2) | 19 (−2) | 1 | 1 (+1) | 3 (−1) | 0 | hold |
References
References
- Warman, Christopher. (1 May 1980). "Poll 'chance to pass judgment'". [[The Times]].
- (2 May 1980). "Labour makes gains throughout Britain in local government elections". [[The Times]].
- Rallings, Colin. (2013). "Local Elections in Britain". Routledge.
- Warman, Christopher. (5 May 1980). "Labour wins stronger voice to fight against cuts in local services". [[The Times]].
This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.
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