1964 Greater London Council election

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← 1961

9 April 1964

1967 →

100 councillors
51 seats needed for a majority

	First party	Second party

Leader	Bill Fiske
Party	Labour	Conservative
Seats won	64	36
Popular vote	1,063,390	956,543
Percentage	44.6%	40.1%

Results by parliamentary constituency.

Council control before election

New body

Elected Council control

Labour Party (UK)

The first election to the Greater London Council (GLC) was held on 9 April 1964.^[1]

Background[]

The election happened at a time of very high political tension, with a general election due in a few months. The GLC did not come into its powers until 1 April 1965, but spent the first year setting up its committee structure and arranging with its predecessor authorities to take over.

Electoral arrangements[]

With no satisfactory sub-divisions in place, the electoral system used the new London boroughs as multi-member 'first past the post' electoral areas (the Parliamentary constituencies did not follow the Greater London boundaries).

Results[]

When the GLC had been created, many had assumed it would be a natural Conservative victory, but due to the exclusion of some Conservative-voting areas from the new boundaries and to the national trend of discontentment with the Conservative government and enthusiasm for the Labour opposition, Labour won a narrow victory in votes.

The large constituencies where the winner took all exaggerated Labour's win in votes into a near two-to-one lead in terms of seats. It also made it extremely difficult for the Liberal Party to win any seats. In addition to the 100 councillors, there were sixteen Aldermen who divided 11 to Labour and 5 to the Conservatives, and so the overall strength of the parties on the council was 75 Labour to 41 Conservatives.

With an electorate of 5,466,756, there was a turnout of 44.2%. Labour did particularly well to win Bexley and Havering, but performed poorly in Enfield which they might have expected to win. In Tower Hamlets, the Communist Party of Great Britain came in as runners-up with 8% of the vote.

Party		Votes			Seats
Party		Number	%	Stood	Seats	%
	Labour	1,063,390	44.6	100	64	64.0
	Conservative	956,543	40.1	100	36	36.0
	Liberal	238,967	10.0	86	0
	Communist	90,779	3.8	36	0
	Independent	19,983	0.9	9	0
	Waltham Forest Residents' Association	5,858	0.3	3	0
	Christian Independent	2,895	0.1	1	0
		2,474	0.1	3	0
	Union Movement	2,353	0.1	2	0

By-elections 1964-1967[]

Less than a month after the election, Marjorie McIntosh (Labour, Hammersmith) died and precipitated a byelection; however, given that the voters had elected the GLC and the new London Boroughs, the parties were short of money and the Conservatives decided not to oppose the Labour candidate who was returned unopposed on 18 June. Oliver Galley (Conservative, Harrow, died in October 1965 and the Conservatives retained his seat at a byelection on 27 January 1966. By the end of the term, there were two seats vacant due to the resignations of Sir Joseph Haygarth (Conservative, Barnet) and Mrs Mavis Webster (Labour, Waltham Forest).

References[]

^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2018-09-01. Retrieved 2018-06-16.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

v t Elections and referendums in London
Mayor of London	2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2021
London Assembly	2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2021
Inner London Education Authority	1986
Greater London Council	1964 1967 1970 1973 1977 1981
London County Council	1889 1892 1898 1901 1904 1907 1910 1913 1919 1922 1925 1928 1931 1934 1937 1946 1949 1952 1955 1958 1961
Borough Councils	1964 1968 1971 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022
Referendums	1998
See also Elections in London Boroughs Middlesex County Council elections

v t Council elections in Greater London
Barking and Dagenham	1964 1968 1971 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022
Barnet	1964 1968 1971 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022
Bexley	1964 1968 1971 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2010 2014 2018 2022
Brent	1964 1968 1971 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022
Bromley	1964 1968 1971 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022
Camden	1964 1968 1971 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022
City	2009 2013 2017 2022
Croydon	1964 1968 1971 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022
Ealing	1964 1968 1971 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2010 2014 2018 2022
Enfield	1964 1968 1971 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022
Greenwich	1964 1968 1971 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022
Hackney	1964 1968 1971 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022
Hammersmith and Fulham	1964 1968 1971 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022
Haringey	1964 1968 1971 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022
Harrow	1964 1968 1971 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2010 2014 2018 2022
Havering	1964 1968 1971 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022
Hillingdon	1964 1968 1971 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2010 2014 2018 2022
Hounslow	1964 1968 1971 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2010 2014 2018 2022
Islington	1964 1968 1971 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022
Kensington and Chelsea	1964 1968 1971 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022
Kingston upon Thames	1964 1968 1971 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022
Lambeth	1964 1968 1971 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022
Lewisham	1964 1968 1971 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022
Merton	1964 1968 1971 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022
Newham	1964 1968 1971 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022
Redbridge	1964 1968 1971 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022
Richmond upon Thames	1964 1968 1971 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022
Southwark	1964 1968 1971 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022
Sutton	1964 1968 1971 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2010 2014 2018 2022
Tower Hamlets	1964 1968 1971 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022
Waltham Forest	1964 1968 1971 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022
Wandsworth	1964 1968 1971 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022
Westminster	1964 1968 1971 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2010 2014 2018 2022
Greater London	1964 1967 1970 1973 1977 1981
See also: London-wide elections Wards Boundary changes

v t () ()
London boroughs	Greater London Barking Barnet Bexley Brent Bromley Camden Croydon Ealing Enfield Greenwich Hackney Hammersmith Haringey Harrow Havering Hillingdon Hounslow Islington Kensington and Chelsea Kingston upon Thames Lambeth Lewisham Merton Newham Redbridge Richmond upon Thames Southwark Sutton Tower Hamlets Waltham Forest Wandsworth Westminster
County councils (England)	Kesteven
County councils (Wales)	Carmarthenshire
County councils (Scotland)
City corporations	Edinburgh
County boroughs	Londonderry
See also: UK General election