1985 United Kingdom local elections

1985 United Kingdom local elections

← 1984 2 May 1985 (England & Wales) 15 May 1985 (Northern Ireland) 1986 →
All 39 non-metropolitan counties, 1 sui generis authority, all 26 Northern Irish districts and all 8 Welsh counties
Majority party Minority party Third party   Leader Margaret Thatcher Neil Kinnock David Steel and David Owen Party Conservative Labour Alliance Leader since 11 February 1975 2 October 1983 7 July 1976 and 21 June 1983 Percentage 32% 39% 26% Councillors 10,191 8,746 2,633 Councillors +/- 202 124 302
Colours denote the winning party, as shown in the main table of results.

Local elections were held in the United Kingdom in 1985.^[1][2][3][4] The projected share of the vote was Labour 39%, Conservative 32%, Liberal-SDP Alliance 26%. Labour had the largest share of the vote in local council elections for the first time since 1981.

Both Conservatives and Labour lost some seats to the Liberal-SDP Alliance, who were rebuilding under the leadership of David Owen and enjoying strong showings (including a brief lead) in the opinion polls.

The overall results were as follows;

Conservative losses: 202
Number of Conservative councillors: 10,191

Labour losses: 124
Number of Labour councillors: 8,746

Liberal-SDP Alliance gains: 302
Number of Liberal-SDP Alliance councillors: 2,633

Summary of results[]

Alan Clark, writing in his diary for 11 May 1985, shortly after the election, stated: "Some stupid prick has done a 'projection' in one of the heavies showing that the SDP will have a massive overall majority in the House of Commons.."^[5]

England[]

Non-metropolitan county councils[]

‡ New electoral division boundaries

Sui generis[]

Northern Ireland[]

Wales[]

County councils[]

References[]

External links[]

• Local elections 2006. House of Commons Library Research Paper 06/26.
• Vote 2001 BBC News