1983 United Kingdom local elections

Local elections were held in the United Kingdom in 1983.^[1]^[2] The results were a success for Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who soon afterwards called a general election in which the Conservatives won a landslide victory. The projected share of the vote was Conservative 39%, Labour Party 36%, Liberal-SDP Alliance 20%.

The three major parties all made net gains at the expense of smaller parties and independents, despite a slight reduction in the number of councillors.

The Conservatives gained 110 seats, giving them 10,557 councillors. Labour gained just 8 seats, finishing with 8,782 seats. The Liberal-SDP Alliance gained 321 seats, finishing with 2,171 seats. It was a decent showing for Labour - with a much larger share of the vote than any opinion poll had shown since the party's split in 1981 - but a major disappointment for the Alliance. However, the subsequent general election saw the Conservative government elected by a landslide, while the Alliance came close to Labour in terms of votes, although Labour won almost 10 times as many seats.

Summary of results[]

England[]

Metropolitan boroughs[]

All 36 metropolitan borough councils had one third of their seats up for election.

Council			Details
Barnsley	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Birmingham	Conservative	Conservative hold	Details
Bolton	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Bradford	No overall control	No overall control hold	Details
Bury	Conservative	Conservative hold
Calderdale	No overall control	No overall control hold
Coventry	Labour	Labour hold
Doncaster	Labour	Labour hold
Dudley	Conservative	Conservative hold
Gateshead	Labour	Labour hold
Kirklees	Labour	Labour hold
Knowsley	Labour	Labour hold
Leeds	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Liverpool	No overall control	Labour gain	Details
Manchester	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Newcastle upon Tyne	Labour	Labour hold
North Tyneside	Labour	Labour hold
Oldham	Labour	Labour hold
Rochdale	No overall control	No overall control hold
Rotherham	Labour	Labour hold
Salford	Labour	Labour hold
Sandwell	Labour	Labour hold
Sefton	Conservative	Conservative hold
Sheffield	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Solihull	Conservative	Conservative hold
South Tyneside	Labour	Labour hold
St Helens	Labour	Labour hold
Stockport	Conservative	No overall control gain
Sunderland	Labour	Labour hold
Tameside	Labour	Labour hold
Trafford	Conservative	Conservative hold	Details
Wakefield	Labour	Labour hold
Walsall	No overall control	No overall control hold
Wigan	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Wirral	Conservative	Conservative hold	Details
Wolverhampton	Labour	Labour hold	Details

District councils[]

Whole council[]

In 193 districts the whole council was up for election.

In 54 districts there were new ward boundaries, following electoral boundary reviews by the Local Government Boundary Commission for England.

Council			Details
Allerdale	No overall control	No overall control hold
Alnwick	No overall control	No overall control hold
Arun ‡	Conservative	Conservative hold
Ashfield	Labour	Labour hold
Ashford	No overall control	Conservative gain
Aylesbury Vale	Conservative	Conservative hold
Babergh	No overall control	No overall control hold
Berwick-upon-Tweed	Independent	No overall control gain
Beverley	Conservative	Conservative hold
Blaby ‡	Conservative	Conservative hold
Blackpool	Conservative	Conservative hold
Blyth Valley	Labour	Labour hold
Bolsover	Labour	Labour hold
Boothferry	Conservative	Conservative hold
Boston	No overall control	No overall control hold
Bournemouth	Conservative	Conservative hold
Bracknell	Conservative	Conservative hold
Braintree	No overall control	No overall control hold
Breckland	Conservative	Conservative hold
Bridgnorth	Independent	Independent hold
Brighton ‡	Conservative	No overall control gain
Bristol ‡	Labour	No overall control gain	Details
Bromsgrove	Conservative	Conservative hold
Broxtowe	Conservative	Conservative hold
Canterbury	Conservative	Conservative hold
Caradon ‡	Independent	Independent hold
Carlisle ‡	Labour	Labour hold
Carrick	Conservative	No overall control gain
Castle Morpeth	No overall control	No overall control hold
Castle Point	Conservative	Conservative hold
Charnwood ‡	Conservative	Conservative hold
Chelmsford	Conservative	Alliance gain
Cheltenham ‡	No overall control	No overall control hold	Details
Chesterfield	Labour	Labour hold
Chester-le-Street	Labour	Labour hold
Chichester	Conservative	Conservative hold	Details
Chiltern	Conservative	Conservative hold
Christchurch	Conservative	Conservative hold
Cleethorpes	No overall control	No overall control hold
Copeland	Labour	Labour hold
Corby	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Cotswold	Independent	Independent hold
Dacorum	Conservative	Conservative hold
Darlington	Labour	Labour hold
Dartford	Labour	Conservative gain
Derwentside	Labour	Labour hold
Dover	Conservative	Conservative hold
Durham	No overall control	Labour gain
Easington	Labour	Labour hold
East Cambridgeshire ‡	Independent	Independent hold
East Hampshire	Conservative	Conservative hold
East Hertfordshire	Conservative	Conservative hold
East Lindsey ‡	Independent	Independent hold
East Northamptonshire	Conservative	Conservative hold	Details
East Staffordshire	No overall control	No overall control hold
East Yorkshire	Conservative	Conservative hold
Eden	Independent	Independent hold
Epsom and Ewell	Independent	Independent hold
Erewash	Conservative	Conservative hold
Exeter ‡	Conservative	Conservative hold
Fenland	Conservative	Conservative hold	Details
Forest Heath	Conservative	No overall control gain
Forest of Dean ‡	No overall control	No overall control hold
Fylde	Conservative	Conservative hold
Gedling	Conservative	Conservative hold
Glanford	Conservative	Conservative hold
Gravesham	Conservative	Conservative hold
Guildford	Conservative	Conservative hold	Details
Hambleton	Independent	Independent hold
Harborough ‡	Conservative	Conservative hold
Harrogate ‡	Conservative	Conservative hold
High Peak	No overall control	No overall control hold	Details
Hinckley and Bosworth ‡	Conservative	Conservative hold
Holderness	Independent	Independent hold
Horsham	Conservative	Conservative hold	Details
Hove	Conservative	Conservative hold
Kennet	Independent	Independent hold
Kerrier	No overall control	No overall control hold
Kettering	No overall control	Conservative gain
King's Lynn and West Norfolk ‡	Conservative	Conservative hold
Kingston upon Hull ‡	Labour	Labour hold
Kingswood	No overall control	Conservative gain
Lancaster	Conservative	Conservative hold
Langbaurgh	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Leicester ‡	Labour	Labour hold
Lewes ‡	Conservative	Conservative hold
Lichfield	Conservative	Conservative hold
Luton	Conservative	Conservative hold
Maldon	Conservative	No overall control gain
Malvern Hills	Independent	Independent hold
Mansfield	Labour	Labour hold
Medina	Alliance	Alliance hold
Melton	Conservative	Conservative hold
Mendip	Independent	Conservative gain
Mid Bedfordshire	Conservative	Conservative hold	Details
Mid Devon	Independent	Independent hold
Mid Suffolk	No overall control	No overall control hold
Mid Sussex ‡	Conservative	Conservative hold
Middlesbrough	Labour	Labour hold
New Forest	Conservative	Conservative hold
Newark and Sherwood	No overall control	No overall control hold
Newbury ‡	Conservative	Conservative hold
North Bedfordshire ‡	Conservative	Conservative hold
North Cornwall	Independent	Independent hold
North Devon ‡	Independent	Independent hold
North Dorset ‡	Independent	Independent hold
North East Derbyshire	Labour	Labour hold
North Kesteven	Independent	Independent hold
North Norfolk	Independent	Independent hold
North Shropshire	Independent	Independent hold
North Warwickshire	Labour	Labour hold
North West Leicestershire ‡	Labour	No overall control gain
North Wiltshire ‡	Conservative	Conservative hold
Northampton	Conservative	No overall control gain
Northavon	Conservative	Conservative hold
Nottingham	Labour	Labour hold
Oswestry	Independent	Independent hold
Plymouth	Conservative	Conservative hold	Details
Poole ‡	Conservative	Conservative hold
Portsmouth ‡	Conservative	Conservative hold
Reading ‡	No overall control	Conservative gain
Redditch ‡	Conservative	Labour gain
Restormel ‡	Independent	Independent hold
Ribble Valley	Conservative	Conservative hold
Richmondshire	Independent	Independent hold
Rochester-upon-Medway	Conservative	Conservative hold
Rother ‡	No overall control	Conservative gain
Rushcliffe	Conservative	Conservative hold
Rutland	Independent	Independent hold
Ryedale ‡	Independent	Independent hold
Salisbury	No overall control	No overall control hold
Scarborough	Conservative	No overall control gain
Sedgefield ‡	Labour	Labour hold
Sedgemoor	Conservative	Conservative hold
Selby	Conservative	Conservative hold
Sevenoaks	Conservative	Conservative hold
Shepway	Conservative	Conservative hold
Slough ‡	Conservative	Labour gain
South Bucks ‡	Conservative	Conservative hold
South Derbyshire	No overall control	Labour gain
South Hams	Independent	No overall control gain
South Holland	Independent	Independent hold
South Kesteven	Conservative	Conservative hold	Details
South Norfolk	Conservative	Conservative hold
South Northamptonshire	Conservative	Conservative hold
South Oxfordshire ‡	Conservative	Conservative hold
South Ribble	Conservative	Conservative hold
South Shropshire	Independent	Independent hold
South Staffordshire	Conservative	Conservative hold
South Wight	Independent	Conservative gain
Spelthorne	Conservative	Conservative hold
St Edmundsbury	Conservative	Conservative hold
Stafford	No overall control	No overall control hold
Staffordshire Moorlands	No overall control	No overall control hold
Stockton-on-Tees	Labour	Labour hold
Stroud ‡	Conservative	Conservative hold
Suffolk Coastal ‡	Conservative	Conservative hold
Surrey Heath	Conservative	Conservative hold
Taunton Deane	Conservative	Conservative hold
Teesdale ‡	Independent	Independent hold
Teignbridge	Independent	No overall control gain
Tendring	Conservative	Conservative hold
Test Valley	Conservative	Conservative hold
Tewkesbury ‡	Independent	Independent hold
Thanet	Conservative	Independent gain
The Wrekin	Labour	Labour hold
Torbay ‡	Conservative	Conservative hold
Torridge	Independent	Independent hold
Tynedale	No overall control	No overall control hold
Uttlesford	Conservative	Conservative hold
Vale of White Horse	Conservative	Conservative hold
Vale Royal	No overall control	No overall control hold
Wansbeck	Labour	Labour hold
Wansdyke	Conservative	Conservative hold
Warrington	No overall control	Labour gain
Warwick ‡	Conservative	Conservative hold
Waveney ‡	Conservative	Conservative hold
Waverley ‡	Conservative	Conservative hold
Wealden ‡	Conservative	Conservative hold
Wear Valley ‡	Labour	Labour hold
Wellingborough ‡	Conservative	Conservative hold
West Derbyshire	Conservative	Conservative hold
West Devon	Independent	Independent hold
West Dorset ‡	Independent	Independent hold	Details
West Somerset	Independent	Independent hold
West Wiltshire ‡	Conservative	Conservative hold
Wimborne ‡	Conservative	Conservative hold
Windsor and Maidenhead ‡	Conservative	Conservative hold
Worthing ‡	Conservative	Conservative hold
Wychavon	Independent	No overall control gain
Wycombe ‡	Conservative	Conservative hold
Wyre	Conservative	Conservative hold
Yeovil	No overall control	No overall control hold

‡ New ward boundaries

Third of council[]

In 103 districts one third of the council was up for election.

Council			Details
Adur	Alliance	No overall control gain	Details
Amber Valley	Labour	Labour hold
Barrow-in-Furness	Labour	Labour hold
Basildon	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Basingstoke and Deane	No overall control	No overall control hold
Bassetlaw	Labour	Labour hold
Bath	Conservative	Conservative hold	Details
Blackburn	No overall control	Labour gain
Brentwood	Conservative	Conservative hold
Broadland	Conservative	Conservative hold
Broxbourne	Conservative	Conservative hold	Details
Burnley	Labour	Labour hold
Cambridge	No overall control	No overall control hold
Cannock Chase	No overall control	No overall control hold
Cherwell	Conservative	Conservative hold
Chester	Conservative	Conservative hold
Chorley	Conservative	No overall control gain
Colchester	Conservative	Conservative hold	Details
Congleton	No overall control	Conservative gain
Craven	Conservative	Conservative hold
Crawley	Labour	Labour hold
Crewe and Nantwich	No overall control	No overall control hold
Daventry	No overall control	Conservative gain
Derby	Labour	Labour hold	Details
East Devon	Conservative	Conservative hold
Eastbourne	Conservative	Conservative hold
Eastleigh	Conservative	No overall control gain
Ellesmere Port and Neston	Labour	Labour hold
Elmbridge	Conservative	Conservative hold
Epping Forest	Conservative	Conservative hold
Fareham	Conservative	Conservative hold
Gillingham	Conservative	Conservative hold
Gloucester	Conservative	Conservative hold	Details
Gosport	Conservative	Conservative hold
Great Grimsby	Labour	No overall control gain
Great Yarmouth	No overall control	Conservative gain
Halton	Labour	Labour hold
Harlow	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Hart	Conservative	No overall control gain
Hartlepool	Labour	Labour hold
Hastings	No overall control	No overall control hold
Havant	Conservative	Conservative hold
Hereford	Alliance	Alliance hold
Hertsmere	Conservative	Conservative hold
Huntingdon	Conservative	Conservative hold
Hyndburn	Labour	Labour hold
Ipswich	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Leominster	Independent	Independent hold
Lincoln	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Macclesfield	Conservative	Conservative hold
Maidstone	Conservative	No overall control gain
Milton Keynes	No overall control	No overall control hold
Mole Valley	No overall control	No overall control hold
Newcastle-under-Lyme	Labour	Labour hold
North Hertfordshire	Conservative	Conservative hold
Norwich	Labour	Labour hold
Nuneaton and Bedworth	Labour	Labour hold
Oadby and Wigston	Conservative	Conservative hold
Oxford	Labour	Labour hold
Pendle	No overall control	No overall control hold
Penwith	Independent	Independent hold
Peterborough	No overall control	No overall control hold
Preston	Labour	Labour hold
Purbeck	Independent	Independent hold
Reigate and Banstead	Conservative	Conservative hold
Rochford	Conservative	Conservative hold
Rossendale	Conservative	Conservative hold
Rugby	No overall control	No overall control hold
Runnymede	Conservative	Conservative hold
Rushmoor	Conservative	Conservative hold
Scunthorpe	Labour	Labour hold
Shrewsbury and Atcham	No overall control	No overall control hold
South Bedfordshire	Conservative	Conservative hold
South Cambridgeshire	Independent	Independent hold
South Herefordshire	Independent	Independent hold
South Lakeland	No overall control	No overall control hold
Southampton	Conservative	Conservative hold
Southend-on-Sea	Conservative	Conservative hold
St Albans	Conservative	Conservative hold
Stevenage	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Stoke-on-Trent	Labour	Labour hold
Stratford-on-Avon	Conservative	Conservative hold
Swale	Conservative	Conservative hold
Tamworth	Labour	Conservative gain
Tandridge	Conservative	Conservative hold
Thamesdown	Labour	Labour hold
Three Rivers	Conservative	Conservative hold
Thurrock	Labour	Labour hold
Tonbridge and Malling	Conservative	Conservative hold
Tunbridge Wells	Conservative	Conservative hold
Watford	Labour	Labour hold
Welwyn Hatfield	Labour	Labour hold
West Lancashire	Conservative	Conservative hold
West Lindsey	No overall control	No overall control hold
West Oxfordshire	No overall control	Conservative gain
Weymouth and Portland	No overall control	No overall control hold
Winchester	Conservative	Conservative hold
Woking	Conservative	Conservative hold
Wokingham	Conservative	Conservative hold
Woodspring	Conservative	Conservative hold
Worcester	Labour	No overall control gain
Wyre Forest	No overall control	No overall control hold
York	No overall control	No overall control hold

Wales[]

District councils[]

Council			Details
Aberconwy	Independent	No overall control gain
Afan	Labour	Labour hold
Alyn and Deeside	No overall control	No overall control hold
Anglesey - Ynys Môn	Independent	Independent hold
Arfon	No overall control	No overall control hold
Blaenau Gwent	Labour	Labour hold
Brecknock	Independent	Independent hold
Cardiff	Labour	Conservative gain	Details
Carmarthen	Independent	Independent hold	Details
Ceredigion	Independent	Independent hold	Details
Colwyn	No overall control	No overall control hold
Cynon Valley	Labour	Labour hold
Delyn	No overall control	No overall control hold
Dinefwr	Independent	Labour gain	Details
Dwyfor	Independent	Independent hold
Glyndŵr	Independent	Independent hold
Islwyn	Labour	Labour hold
Llanelli	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Lliw Valley	Labour	Labour hold
Meirionnydd	Independent	Independent hold
Merthyr Tydfil	Labour	Labour hold
Monmouth	Conservative	Conservative hold
Montgomery	Independent	Independent hold
Neath	Labour	Labour hold
Newport	Labour	Labour hold
Ogwr	No overall control	No overall control hold
Preseli	Independent	Independent hold	Details
Radnor	Independent	Independent hold
Rhondda	Labour	Labour hold
Rhuddlan	Independent	Independent hold
Rhymney Valley	Labour	Labour hold
South Pembrokeshire	Independent	Independent hold	Details
Swansea	Labour	Labour hold
Taff-Ely	Labour	Labour hold
Torfaen	Labour	Labour hold
Vale of Glamorgan	Conservative	Conservative hold	Details
Wrexham Maelor	No overall control	No overall control hold

References[]

^ Rallings, Colin; Thrasher, Michael. Local Elections Handbook 1983. The Elections Centre. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
^ "Council compositions". The Elections Centre. Retrieved 3 May 2016.

[1] Rallings, Colin; Thrasher, Michael. Local Elections Handbook 1983. The Elections Centre. Retrieved 3 May 2016.

[2] "Council compositions". The Elections Centre. Retrieved 3 May 2016.

[1]

[2]

v t (1982 ←) 1983 United Kingdom local elections (→ 1984)
Metropolitan boroughs	Barnsley Birmingham Bradford Bolton Leeds Liverpool Manchester Sheffield Trafford Wigan Wirral Wolverhampton
District councils (England)	Adur Basildon Bath Bristol Broxbourne Cheltenham Chichester Colchester Corby Derby East Northamptonshire Fenland Gloucester Guildford Harlow High Peak Horsham Ipswich Langbaurgh Lincoln Mid Bedfordshire Plymouth South Kesteven Stevenage West Dorset
District councils (Wales)	Cardiff Carmarthen Ceredigion Dinefwr Llanelli Preseli South Pembrokeshire Vale of Glamorgan
See also: UK General election

v t Elections and referendums in the United Kingdom
General elections	1801 1802 1806 1807 1812 1818 1820 1826 1830 1831 1832 1835 1837 1841 1847 1852 1857 1859 1865 1868 1874 1880 1885 1886 1892 1895 1900 1906 1910 (Jan) 1910 (Dec) 1918 1922 1923 1924 1929 1931 1935 1945 1950 1951 1955 1959 1964 1966 1970 1974 (Feb) 1974 (Oct) 1979 1983 1987 1992 1997 2001 2005 2010 2015 2017 2019 Next
Local elections	1889 1892 1894 1896 1909 1934 1949 1955 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2021 2022
European elections	1979 1984 1989 1994 1999 2004 2009 2014 2019
Referendums	1975 2011 2016