1981 Merseyside County Council election

1981 Merseyside County Council election

← 1977 7 May 1981 (1981-05-07)
All 99 seats to Merseyside County Council 50 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	36.9% (1.3%)[1]
First party Second party Third party   Party Labour Conservative Liberal Last election 26 seats, 27.4% 67 seats, 55.1% 6 seats, 16.3% Seats before 26 67 6 Seats won 57 27 15 Seat change 31 40 9 Popular vote 190,757 122,050 100,218 Percentage 45.8% 29.3% 24.1% Swing 18.4% 25.8% 7.8%
Map of Merseyside County Council showing wards won by party[2]
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
		Stood	Elected	Net	% of total	%	№	Net %
	Labour	97	57	31	57.6	45.8	190,757	18.4
	Conservative	99	27	40	27.3	29.3	122,050	25.8
	Liberal	88	15	9	15.2	24.1	100,218	7.8
	Residents	2	0		0.0	0.4	1,728	N/A
	Ecology	2	0		0.0	0.1	585	N/A
	Communist	7	0		0.0	0.1	545	0.5
	British Democratic	2	0		0.0	0.1	264	N/A
	Independent	1	0		0.0	0.0	184	0.1
	Independent Liberal	1	0		0.0	0.0	61

^[1]

Results by borough[]

Knowsley[]

Merseyside County Council election, 1981 (Knowsley)
Party		Candidates				Votes
		Stood	Elected	Net	% of total	%	№	Net %
	Labour	11	10	3	90.9	68.5	27,110	23.7
	Conservative	11	1	3	9.1	18.6	7,350	29.9
	Liberal	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
		Stood	Elected	Net	% of total	%	№	Net %
	Labour	36	21	11	58.3	46.9	67,144	18.7
	Liberal	36	8	5	22.2	30.9	44,273	7.4
	Conservative	36	7	16	19.4	21.7	31,057	25.3
	Communist	7	0		0.0	0.4	545	0.5
	Independent Liberal	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
		Stood	Elected	Net	% of total	%	№	Net %
	Conservative	19	9	6	47.4	38.1	31,108	25.6
	Labour	17	6	3	31.6	34.4	28,070	14.2
	Liberal	15	4	3	21.1	24.8	20,190	10.1
	Residents	2	0		0.0	2.1	1,728	N/A
	Ecology	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
		Stood	Elected	Net	% of total	%	№	Net %
	Labour	11	9	6	81.8	56.8	28,191	20.4
	Conservative	11	2	6	18.2	26.6	13,172	31.4
	Liberal	8	0		0.0	16.2	8,061	10.6
	Independent	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
		Stood	Elected	Net	% of total	%	№	Net %
	Labour	22	11	8	50.0	39.2	40,242	18.1
	Conservative	22	8	9	36.4	38.4	39,363	22.0
	Liberal	20	3	1	13.6	22.0	22,558	4.0
	British Democratic	2	0		0.0	0.3	264	N/A
	Ecology	1	0		0.0	0.1	111	N/A

^[1]

Turnout: 39.9% (1.9%)

Notes[]

References[]