1985 United Kingdom local elections
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All 39 non-metropolitan counties, 1 sui generis authority, all 26 Northern Irish districts and all 8 Welsh counties | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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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[]
Council | Previous control | Result | Details | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Avon | Labour | No overall control gain | |||
Bedfordshire ‡ | No overall control | No overall control hold | |||
Berkshire ‡ | No overall control | Conservative gain | |||
Buckinghamshire ‡ | Conservative | Conservative hold | |||
Cambridgeshire ‡ | Conservative | No overall control gain | |||
Cheshire | No overall control | No overall control hold | |||
Cleveland ‡ | Labour | Labour hold | |||
Cornwall ‡ | Independent | No overall control gain | Details | ||
Cumbria | Labour | No overall control gain | Details | ||
Derbyshire | Labour | Labour hold | |||
Devon ‡ | Conservative | No overall control gain | |||
Dorset ‡ | Conservative | Conservative hold | |||
Durham | Labour | Labour hold | |||
East Sussex ‡ | Conservative | No overall control gain | |||
Essex | Conservative | No overall control gain | Details | ||
Gloucestershire ‡ | No overall control | No overall control hold | |||
Hampshire | Conservative | No overall control gain | |||
Hereford and Worcester ‡ | Conservative | Conservative hold | |||
Hertfordshire | Conservative | No overall control gain | |||
Humberside | Labour | No overall control gain | |||
Isle of Wight | Alliance | Alliance hold | |||
Kent | Conservative | Conservative hold | |||
Lancashire | Labour | No overall control gain | |||
Leicestershire ‡ | No overall control | No overall control hold | |||
Lincolnshire | Conservative | Conservative hold | Details | ||
Norfolk ‡ | Conservative | Conservative hold | |||
North Yorkshire ‡ | Conservative | No overall control gain | |||
Northamptonshire | No overall control | No overall control hold | |||
Northumberland | Labour | No overall control gain | Details | ||
Nottinghamshire | Labour | Labour hold | Details | ||
Oxfordshire ‡ | Conservative | No overall control gain | |||
Shropshire | No overall control | No overall control hold | |||
Somerset | Conservative | No overall control gain | |||
Staffordshire | Labour | Labour hold | |||
Suffolk ‡ | Conservative | Conservative hold | |||
Surrey | Conservative | Conservative hold | |||
Warwickshire | No overall control | No overall control hold | |||
West Sussex ‡ | Conservative | Conservative hold | |||
Wiltshire ‡ | Conservative | No overall control gain | Details |
‡ New electoral division boundaries
Sui generis[]
Council | Previous control | Result | Details | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Isles of Scilly |
Northern Ireland[]
Wales[]
County councils[]
Council | Previous control | Result | Details | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Clwyd | No overall control | No overall control hold | |||
Dyfed | No overall control | No overall control hold | Details | ||
Gwent | Labour | Labour hold | |||
Gwynedd | Independent | Independent hold | |||
Mid Glamorgan | Labour | Labour hold | Details | ||
Powys | Independent | Independent hold | |||
South Glamorgan | Labour | Labour hold | Details | ||
West Glamorgan | Labour | Labour hold |
References[]
- ^ Rallings, Colin; Thrasher, Michael. Local Elections Handbook 1985, Volume 1. The Elections Centre. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
- ^ Rallings, Colin; Thrasher, Michael. Local Elections Handbook 1985, Volume 2. The Elections Centre. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
- ^ Rallings, Colin; Thrasher, Michael. Local Elections Handbook 1985, Volume 3. The Elections Centre. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
- ^ "Council compositions". The Elections Centre. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
- ^ Diaries, Alan Clark Phoenix 1994, pp 112
External links[]
- 1985 United Kingdom local elections