United Kingdom local elections, 1976

United Kingdom local elections, 1976

6 May 1976

All 36 metropolitan boroughs, all 296 English districts and all 37 Welsh districts   Majority party Minority party Third party   Leader Margaret Thatcher James Callaghan Jeremy Thorpe Party Conservative Labour Liberal Leader since 11 February 1975 5 April 1976 18 January 1967 Councillors 8087 4467 827 Councillors +/- 1745 1309 223

Local elections were held in the United Kingdom on 6 May 1976. Elections were for one third of the seats on Metropolitan borough councils and for all seats on Non-Metropolitan district councils in England; and for all seats on the Welsh district councils.^[1][2]

The elections were the first electoral test for the new Prime Minister James Callaghan, and were a major reverse for the ruling Labour Party. The opposition Conservative party made large gains of seats and control of councils at the expense of both Labour and the Liberal Party.^{[3][4][5][6][7][8]}

The Conservatives easily gained control of their principal target council, Birmingham. The new administration in the city pledged to reintroduce the sale of council houses, which had been stopped by the previous Labour-controlled council.^[9] Control of another five metropolitan borough councils were gained by the Conservatives at Labour's expense. The party also gained numerous non-metropolitan districts, including large towns and cities such as Derby, Exeter, Ipswich, Leicester, Luton, Milton Keynes, Oxford, Peterborough and York.

Major English councils held by Labour included Manchester, Norwich, Nottingham and Stoke-on-Trent.

Break-away groups from the official Labour Party achieved success in two districts. The Lincoln Democratic Labour Association retained control of the city council. The association had been formed following the expulsion of local member of parliament, Dick Taverne from the party.^[10] In Blyth Valley the Independent Labour Party gained nine seats from the official Labour candidates. The ILP were supporters of Eddie Milne, former MP for Blyth. Milne had been expelled from Labour in April 1974.^[11] Labour lost control of North East Derbyshire, where all the party's seats in Clay Cross passed to Ratepayer candidates. The town had been the scene of a dispute between the former urban district council and the government over the Housing Finance Act.

The Liberals lost control of their only local authority, Liverpool City Council. Labour became the largest party on the council, which was under no overall control.

In Wales, the dominant position of Labour was overturned. Major Labour losses were Cardiff and Newport to the Conservatives, Swansea to Ratepayers and Merthyr Tydfil to Plaid Cymru.^[12]

England

Metropolitan boroughs

District councils

A

† New ward boundaries

B

† New ward boundaries

C

† New ward boundaries

D

† New ward boundaries

E

† New ward boundaries

F

† New ward boundaries

G

† Ward boundary changes

H

† New ward boundaries

I

K

† New ward boundaries

L

† New ward boundaries

M

† New ward boundaries

N

O

† New ward boundaries

P

† New ward boundaries

R

† New ward boundaries

S

† New ward boundaries

T

† New ward boundaries

U

† New ward boundaries

V

† New ward boundaries

W

† New ward boundaries

Y

Totals

Wales

District councils

References

• Local elections 2006. House of Commons Library Research Paper 06/26.
• Vote 1999 BBC News
• Vote 2000 BBC News

(1975 ←) United Kingdom local elections, 1976 (→ 1977)
Metropolitan boroughs	Barnsley Birmingham Bradford Bolton Bury Calderdale Coventry Doncaster Dudley Gateshead Kirklees Knowsley Leeds Liverpool Manchester Newcastle North Tyneside Oldham Rochdale Rotherham Salford Sandwell Sefton Sheffield Solihull South Tyneside St Helens Stockport Sunderland Tameside Trafford Wakefield Walsall Wigan Wirral Wolverhampton
District councils (England)	Adur Allerdale Alnwick Amber Valley Arun Ashfield Ashford Aylesbury Vale Babergh Barrow-in-Furness Basildon Basingstoke Bassetlaw Bath Beaconsfield Berwick-upon-Tweed Beverley Blaby Blackburn Blackpool Blyth Valley Bolsover Boothferry Boston Bournemouth Bracknell Braintree Breckland Brentwood Bridgnorth Brighton Bristol Broadland Bromsgrove Broxbourne Broxtowe Burnley Cambridge Cannock Chase Canterbury Caradon Carlisle Carrick Castle Morpeth Castle Point Charnwood Chelmsford Cheltenham Cherwell Chesterfield Chester-le-Street Chester Chichester Chiltern Chorley Christchurch Cleethorpes Colchester Congleton Copeland Corby Cotswold Craven Crawley Crewe and Nantwich Dacorum Darlington Dartford Daventry Derby Derwentside Dover Durham Easington East Cambridgeshire East Devon East Hampshire East Hertfordshire East Lindsey East Northamptonshire East Staffordshire Eastbourne Eastleigh Eden Ellesmere Port Elmbridge Epping Forest Epsom and Ewell Erewash Exeter Fareham Fenland Forest Heath Forest of Dean Fylde Gedling Gillingham Glanford Gloucester Gosport Gravesham Great Yarmouth Grimsby Guildford Halton Hambleton Harborough Harlow Harrogate Hartlepool Hart Hastings Havant Hereford Hertsmere High Peak Hinckley and Bosworth Holderness Horsham Hove Hull Huntingdon Hyndburn Ipswich Kennet Kerrier Kettering Kingswood Lancaster Langbaurgh Leicester Leominster Lewes Lichfield Lincoln Macclesfield Maidstone Maldon Malvern Hills Mansfield Medina Medway Melton Mendip Mid Bedfordshire Mid Suffolk Mid Sussex Middlesbrough Milton Keynes Mole Valley New Forest Newbury Newark Newcastle-under-Lyme North Bedfordshire North Cornwall North Devon North Dorset North East Derbyshire North Hertfordshire North Kesteven North Norfolk North Shropshire North Warwickshire North West Leicestershire North Wiltshire North Wolds Northampton Northavon Norwich Nottingham Nuneaton Oadby and Wigston Oswestry Oxford Pendle Penwith Peterborough Plymouth Poole Portsmouth Preston Purbeck Reading Redditch Reigate and Banstead Restormel Ribble Valley Richmondshire Rochford Rossendale Rother Rugby Runnymede Rushcliffe Rushmoor Rutland Ryedale Salisbury Scarborough Scunthorpe Sedgefield Sedgemoor Selby Sevenoaks Shepway Shrewsbury and Atcham Slough Spelthorne South Bedfordshire South Cambridgeshire South Derbyshire South Hams South Herefordshire South Holland South Lakeland South Kesteven South Norfolk South Northamptonshire South Oxfordshire South Ribble South Shropshire South Staffordshire South Wight Southampton Southend-on-Sea St Albans St Edmundsbury Stafford Staffordshire Moorlands Stevenage Stockton-on-Tees Stoke-on-Trent Stratford-on-Avon Stroud Suffolk Coastal Surrey Heath Swale Tamworth Tandridge Taunton Deane Teesdale Teignbridge Tendring Test Valley Tewkesbury Thamesdown Thanet The Wrekin Three Rivers Thurrock Tiverton Tonbridge and Malling Torbay Torridge Tunbridge Wells Tynedale Uttlesford Vale of White Horse Vale Royal Wansbeck Wansdyke Warrington Warwick Watford Waveney Waverley Wealden Wear Valley Wellingborough Welwyn Hatfield West Derbyshire West Devon West Dorset West Lancashire West Lindsey West Norfolk West Oxfordshire West Somerset West Wiltshire Weymouth and Portland Wimborne Windsor and Maidenhead Winchester Woking Wokingham Woodspring Worcester Worthing Wychavon Wycombe Wyre Wyre Forest Yeovil York
District councils (Wales)	Aberconwy Afan Alyn and Deeside Anglesey - Ynys Môn Arfon Blaenau Gwent Brecknock Cardiff Carmarthen Ceredigion Colwyn Cynon Valley Delyn Dinefwr Dwyfor Glyndŵr Islwyn Llanelli Lliw Valley Meirionnydd Merthyr Tydfil Monmouth Montgomery Neath Newport Ogwr Preseli Radnor Rhondda Rhuddlan Rhymney Valley South Pembrokeshire Swansea Taff-Ely Torfaen Vale of Glamorgan Wrexham Maelor

Elections and referendums in the United Kingdom
General elections	1801 co-option 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 Next
Local elections	1889 1890 1892 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 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
European elections	1979 1984 1989 1994 1999 2004 2009 2014 2019
Referendums	1975 2011 2016
Elections and referendums in England (1264–1705) Scotland (Pre-1707) Great Britain (1708–1796) Ireland Northern Ireland Scotland Wales