1981 Greater London Council election

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

1981 Greater London Council election
Flag of Greater London.svg
← 1977 7 May 1981
92 councillors
47 seats needed for a majority
  First party Second party Third party
  No image.svg No image.svg
AdrianSlade1987 (cropped).jpg
Leader Andrew McIntosh[n 1] Horace Cutler Adrian Slade
Party Labour Conservative Liberal
Seats won 50 41 1
Seat change Increase22 Decrease23 Increase1
Popular vote 939,457 894,234 323,856
Percentage 41.8% 39.7% 14.4%
Swing Increase8.9% Decrease12.8% Increase6.6%
Greater London Council election, 1981.svg
Results by parliamentary constituency.
Leader of the GLC before election

Horace Cutler
Conservative

Elected Leader of the GLC

Ken Livingstone
Labour

There was an election to the Greater London Council held on 7 May 1981. Councillors were elected to serve until elections in May 1985. Those elections were cancelled and the term was extended until 1 April 1986.[1]

The leader of the Labour GLC group Andrew McIntosh led the party into the election. Within 24 hours of the result, however, McIntosh's leadership was toppled by Ken Livingstone; a member of the party's left-wing. Livingstone was then elected GLC leader.[2]

This was the last election to the GLC. The Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher soon took the decision to abolish the council in the mid-1980s, out of partisan concern that it would choose to defy right-wing policies. For more information on this see the article, Greater London Council. Following the abolition of the GLC, there was a direct election to the Inner London Education Authority in 1986.

Results[]

Party Votes Seats
Number % +/- Stood Seats % +/-
Labour 939,457 41.8 Increase8.9 92 50 54.3 Increase22
Conservative 894,234 39.7 Decrease12.8 92 41 44.6 Decrease23
Liberal 323,856 14.4 Increase6.6 89 1 1.1 Increase1
National Front 21,582 1.0 Decrease4.4 41 0 Steady
Social Democratic Alliance 21,582 1.0 n/a 10 0 Steady
Ecology 17,515 0.8 Increase0.7 38 0 Steady
Independent 7,763 0.3 Increase0.2 25 0 Steady
New National Front 5,877 0.3 n/a 18 0 Steady
Communist 5,275 0.2 Decrease0.1 16 0 Steady
Nationalist Party 4,857 0.2 n/a 23 0 Steady
Workers Revolutionary 2,753 0.1 n/a 16 0 Steady
Save London Action Group 1,727 0.1 n/a 13 0 Steady
Abolish the GLC 1,158 0.1 n/a 7 0 Steady
Irish National Party 793 0.0 n/a 3 0 Steady
Fellowship 637 0.0 Steady 1 0 Steady
Ind. Conservative 362 0.0 Steady 1 0 Steady
New Britain 346 0.0 Steady 1 0 Steady
Workers (Leninist) 145 0.0 n/a 1 0 Steady
Revolutionary Communist 116 n/a Steady 1 0 Steady
Socialist (GB) 83 n/a Steady 1 0 Steady

Turnout: 2,250,118 people voted. All parties shown.[3]

References[]

  1. ^ "Local Government (Interim Provisions) Act 1984" (PDF). legislation.gov.uk.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  2. ^ "The rise and fall of the GLC". 31 March 2016 – via www.bbc.co.uk.
  3. ^ "GLC Election Results Summaries". election.demon.co.uk. Archived from the original on 1 September 2018. Retrieved 9 February 2009.

Footnotes[]

  1. ^ Andrew McIntosh led the party into the election. Within 24 hours however McIntosh's leadership was toppled by Ken Livingstone; a member of the party's left-wing.
Retrieved from ""