1990 United Kingdom local elections

Local elections were held in the United Kingdom on 3 May 1990.^[1]^[2]^[3] They were the last local elections held before the resignation of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in November 1990.

The main opposition Labour Party gained 284 seats, bringing their number of councillors to 8,920 - their highest since 1981. Their projected share of the vote was 44%, an increase of 2% from 1989.

The governing Conservative Party lost 222 seats, leaving them with 9,020 councillors. Their share of the vote was projected to be 33%, a fall of 3% from the previous year. This mounted further pressure on the government of Margaret Thatcher, which had been declining for a year following the introduction of the controversial poll tax, and was a major boost for opposition leader Neil Kinnock, whose Labour Party was enjoying a wide lead in the opinion polls with a general election no more than two years away.

The Liberal Democrats lost 78 seats and had 3,265 councillors after the elections. Their projected share of the vote was 17%.

Summary of results[]

England[]

London boroughs[]

In all 32 London boroughs the whole council was up for election.

Council			Details
Barking and Dagenham	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Barnet	Conservative	Conservative hold	Details
Bexley	Conservative	Conservative hold	Details
Brent	Labour	No overall control gain	Details
Bromley	Conservative	Conservative hold	Details
Camden	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Croydon	Conservative	Conservative hold	Details
Ealing	Labour	Conservative gain	Details
Enfield	Conservative	Conservative hold	Details
Greenwich	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Hackney	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Hammersmith and Fulham	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Haringey	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Harrow	Conservative	Conservative hold	Details
Havering	No overall control	No overall control hold	Details
Hillingdon	No overall control	Conservative gain	Details
Hounslow	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Islington	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Kensington and Chelsea	Conservative	Conservative hold	Details
Kingston upon Thames	No overall control	No overall control hold	Details
Lambeth	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Lewisham	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Merton	Conservative	Labour gain	Details
Newham	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Redbridge	Conservative	Conservative hold	Details
Richmond upon Thames	Liberal Democrats	Liberal Democrats hold	Details
Southwark	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Sutton	Liberal Democrats	Liberal Democrats hold	Details
Tower Hamlets	Liberal Democrats	Liberal Democrats hold	Details
Waltham Forest	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Wandsworth	Conservative	Conservative hold	Details
Westminster	Conservative	Conservative hold	Details

Metropolitan boroughs[]

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

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

District councils[]

Whole council[]

In 2 districts the whole council was up for election as there were new ward boundaries, following further electoral boundary reviews by the Local Government Boundary Commission for England.

Council	Previous control		Result		Details
Colchester		No overall control		No overall control hold	Details
Preston		Labour		Labour hold

Third of council[]

In 114 districts one third of the council was up for election.

Council			Details
Adur	Liberal Democrats	Liberal Democrats hold	Details
Amber Valley	Conservative	Conservative hold
Barrow-in-Furness	Labour	Labour hold
Basildon	No overall control	Labour gain	Details
Basingstoke and Deane	Conservative	Conservative hold
Bassetlaw	Labour	Labour hold
Bath	Conservative	No overall control gain	Details
Blackburn	Labour	Labour hold
Brentwood	Conservative	No overall control gain
Brighton	Labour	Labour hold
Bristol	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Broadland	Conservative	Conservative hold
Broxbourne	Conservative	Conservative hold	Details
Burnley	Labour	Labour hold
Cambridge	Labour	Labour hold
Cannock Chase	Labour	Labour hold
Carlisle	Labour	Labour hold
Cheltenham	No overall control	No overall control hold	Details
Cherwell	Conservative	Conservative hold
Chester	No overall control	No overall control hold
Chorley	No overall control	Labour gain
Congleton	No overall control	No overall control hold
Craven	No overall control	No overall control hold
Crawley	Labour	Labour hold
Crewe and Nantwich	No overall control	Labour gain
Daventry	Conservative	Conservative hold
Derby	Conservative	Conservative hold	Details
Eastbourne	Conservative	No overall control gain
Eastleigh	Liberal Democrats	No overall control gain
Ellesmere Port and Neston	Labour	Labour hold
Elmbridge	Conservative	Conservative hold
Epping Forest	Conservative	Conservative hold
Exeter	No overall control	No overall control hold
Fareham	Conservative	Conservative hold
Gillingham	Conservative	No overall control gain
Gloucester	Conservative	No overall control gain	Details
Gosport	Conservative	No overall control gain
Great Grimsby	Labour	Labour hold
Great Yarmouth	No overall control	Labour gain
Halton	Labour	Labour hold
Harlow	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Harrogate	Conservative	No overall control gain
Hart	No overall control	No overall control hold
Hartlepool	Labour	Labour hold
Hastings	No overall control	No overall control hold
Havant	Conservative	No overall control gain
Hereford	Liberal Democrats	Liberal Democrats hold
Hertsmere	Conservative	Conservative hold
Huntingdonshire	Conservative	Conservative hold
Hyndburn	Labour	Labour hold
Ipswich	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Kingston upon Hull	Labour	Labour hold
Leominster	Independent	Independent hold
Lincoln	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Macclesfield	Conservative	Conservative hold
Maidstone	No overall control	No overall control hold
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 Bedfordshire	No overall control	No overall control 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	Liberal Democrats	No overall control gain
Penwith	No overall control	No overall control hold
Peterborough	No overall control	No overall control hold
Portsmouth	Conservative	No overall control gain
Purbeck	No overall control	No overall control hold
Reading	Labour	Labour hold
Redditch	Labour	Labour hold
Reigate and Banstead	Conservative	Conservative hold
Rochford	Conservative	No overall control gain
Rossendale	Labour	Labour hold
Rugby	Conservative	No overall control gain
Runnymede	Conservative	Conservative hold
Rushmoor	Conservative	Conservative hold
Scunthorpe	Labour	Labour hold
Shrewsbury and Atcham	No overall control	No overall control hold
Slough	Labour	Labour 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	Labour	Labour hold
Southend-on-Sea	No overall control	Conservative gain
St Albans	Conservative	Conservative hold
Stevenage	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Stoke-on-Trent	Labour	Labour hold
Stratford-on-Avon	Conservative	Conservative hold
Stroud	No overall control	No overall control hold
Swale	No overall control	No overall control hold
Tamworth	No overall control	Labour gain
Tandridge	Conservative	No overall control gain
Thamesdown	Labour	Labour hold
Three Rivers	Liberal Democrats	No overall control gain
Thurrock	Labour	Labour hold
Torbay	Conservative	No overall control gain
Tunbridge Wells	Conservative	Conservative hold
Watford	No overall control	Labour gain
Waveney	No overall control	Labour gain
Welwyn Hatfield	Labour	Labour hold
West Lancashire	Conservative	Conservative hold
West Lindsey	No overall control	No overall control hold
West Oxfordshire	Conservative	Independent gain
Weymouth and Portland	No overall control	No overall control hold
Winchester	No overall control	No overall control hold
Woking	No overall control	No overall control hold
Wokingham	Conservative	Conservative hold
Worcester	Labour	Labour hold
Worthing	Conservative	Conservative hold
Wyre Forest	No overall control	No overall control hold
York	Labour	Labour hold

Scotland[]

Regional councils[]

Council			Details
Borders	Independent	Independent hold	Details
Central	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Dumfries and Galloway	Independent	Independent hold	Details
Fife	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Grampian	Conservative	No overall control gain	Details
Highland	Independent	Independent hold	Details
Lothian	No overall control	Labour gain	Details
Orkney	Independent	Independent hold
Shetland	Independent	Independent hold
Strathclyde	Labour	Labour hold	Details
Tayside	Conservative	No overall control gain	Details
Western Isles	Independent	Independent hold

References[]

^ Rallings, Colin; Thrasher, Michael. Local Elections Handbook 1990, Volume 1. The Elections Centre. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
^ Rallings, Colin; Thrasher, Michael. Local Elections Handbook 1990, Volume 2. The Elections Centre. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
^ "Council compositions". The Elections Centre. Retrieved 3 May 2016.

[1] Rallings, Colin; Thrasher, Michael. Local Elections Handbook 1990, Volume 1. The Elections Centre. Retrieved 3 May 2016.

[2] Rallings, Colin; Thrasher, Michael. Local Elections Handbook 1990, Volume 2. The Elections Centre. Retrieved 3 May 2016.

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

[1]

[2]

[3]

v t (1989 ←) 1990 United Kingdom local elections (→ 1991)
London boroughs	Barking and Dagenham Barnet Bexley Brent Bromley Camden Croydon Ealing Enfield Greenwich Hackney Hammersmith and Fulham Haringey Harrow Havering Hillingdon Hounslow Islington Kensington and Chelsea Kingston upon Thames Lambeth Lewisham Merton Newham Redbridge Richmond upon Thames Southwark Sutton Tower Hamlets Waltham Forest Wandsworth Westminster
Metropolitan boroughs	Barnsley Bradford Bolton Leeds Liverpool Manchester Sheffield Solihull Trafford Wigan Wirral Wolverhampton
District councils (England)	Adur Basildon Bath Brentwood Bristol Broxbourne Cheltenham Colchester Derby Gloucester Harlow Ipswich Lincoln Stevenage
Regional councils (Scotland)	Borders Central Dumfries and Galloway Fife Grampian Highland Lothian Orkney Shetland Strathclyde Tayside Western Isles

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