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1973 United Kingdom local elections

← 1972 12 April 1973 (England & Wales) 1 May 1973 (Scotland) 10 May 1973 (England & Wales) 30 May 1973 (Northern Ireland) 7 June 1973 (England) 1974 →
1 Unicameral area, all 6 metropolitan counties, all 39 non-metropolitan counties, all 36 metropolitan boroughs, all 296 English districts, 1 sui generis authority, all 26 Northern Irish districts, all 8 Welsh counties and all 37 Welsh districts
Majority party Minority party Third party   Leader Harold Wilson Edward Heath Jeremy Thorpe Party Labour Conservative Liberal Leader since 14 February 1963 27 July 1965 18 January 1967
Map of the results of the elections in England and Wales, showing party control by district (left) and county (right).

The first elections to the new local authorities established by the Local Government Act 1972 in England and Wales and the new Northern Ireland district councils created by the Local Government Act (Northern Ireland) 1972 took place in 1973. Elections to the existing Greater London Council also took place.

England and Wales

The elections took place on three dates:

• 12 April 1973: Metropolitan county councils (601 councillors), Non-metropolitan county councils (3,128 councillors), Welsh county councils (578 councillors) and the Greater London Council (107 councillors & aldermen).
• 10 May 1973: Metropolitan district councils (2,517 councillors) and Welsh district councils (1,522 councillors).
• 7 June 1973: Non-metropolitan district councils (13,540 councillors).

Elections took place for all the seats on the councils. In the case of the new councils, they became shadow authorities, taking over from the existing local authorities on 1 April 1974. The elections for the new councils had been brought forward from an originally planned date in November 1973, to allow the councils more time to act as shadow authorities - the final dates were set in May 1972.

The April elections

The elections held on 12 April saw a very impressive performance by the Labour Party, which regained control of the Greater London Council and took control of all six of the new metropolitan county councils. In the rest of England, they won seven county councils, including two of the new "estuary" counties: Cleveland and Humberside. The party also won Gwent and the three Glamorgan county councils (West Glamorgan, Mid Glamorgan, South Glamorgan) in Wales.

The poor Conservative vote in London and the metropolitan counties was somewhat compensated by winning thirteen of the non-metropolitan counties. Failure to gain Essex or Hertfordshire were disappointments to the party, but taking control of Gloucestershire was a success. The party also failed to gain its only realistic Welsh prospect, South Glamorgan.

There were no great successes for the Liberal party, which found itself in third place in all the metropolitan counties. They did however gain representation on the GLC for the first time, winning two seats at Sutton and Cheam and Richmond upon Thames. This followed the previous year's by-election success in winning the Sutton and Cheam parliamentary seat from the Conservatives.

Independents won two English counties outright: Cornwall and the Isle of Wight. They also formed the largest grouping on a number of other councils, and entered agreements with the Conservatives in the running of some of these. In Wales, Independents controlled three mainly rural counties.

The May elections

The results of the elections in May saw an improvement in the performance by the Conservatives since the county council elections, and a slight fall back in the Labour vote. The Liberals had a notable success, becoming the largest group on Liverpool council.

The Conservatives took control of five metropolitan districts, gaining seats in areas where they had been beaten in the elections to the county councils. They also gained one Welsh district, Monmouth.

The Labour party declared it was pleased with the results, especially as opinion polls had shown them losing support. They took control of most of the metropolitan districts, making a clean sweep of councils in Tyne and Wear and South Yorkshire and important councils such as Birmingham, Coventry and Manchester. Labour also took control of most districts in South Wales including Cardiff. The party's organiser for Wales also pointed to the fact that official Labour candidates won rural seats in north and west Wales for the first time.

Apart from forming a minority administration in Liverpool, the Liberals were able to hold the balance of power at Leeds, Stockport and Wirral. They were however disappointed with their performance at Calderdale which was won by Labour.

The June elections

In the June elections for 296 non-metropolitan districts, Labour won control of 71, the Conservatives 59, the Liberals 1, Democratic Labour 1, and Independents 67. 97 councils were under no overall control: in many of these councils Conservative and Independent groups formed an administration.

The Labour party won 4,327 seats, the Conservatives 4,286, Independents 3,534, and the Liberals 919; with the remaining 449 seats going to various other groupings.

It was a good result for the Liberal party who took control of Eastbourne and became the largest group on Adur, Newbury, Pendle and Waverley councils. The other two main parties also had notable successes: Labour considered control of Cambridge, Dacorum, Ipswich and Oxford to be good results; while the Conservatives celebrated taking Gloucester, Great Yarmouth, Lewes and Warrington councils.

The break-away Lincoln Democratic Labour Association won twenty of the thirty seats on Lincoln District council. The group were supporters of Dick Taverne, member of parliament for Lincoln who had been expelled from the Labour Party. Taverne had earlier in the year resigned his seat to force a by-election in protest against his expulsion, which he won against the official Labour candidate.

Results

Metropolitan county councils

1. Ratepayers

Non-metropolitan county councils

1. Vacancy
2. ^ Ratepayers
3. ^ Vacancies

Welsh county councils

1. Vacancy
2. ^ Ratepayers
3. Communist
4. 1 Progressive Labour, 1 Ratepayers

Greater London Council

Metropolitan districts

1. 1 Independent Labour, 1 Democratic Labour
2. Democratic Labour
3. Independent Labour
4. Rent and Ratepayers
5. Kirkby Householders Federation
6. Vacancies
7. ^ Ratepayers
8. Progressive

Welsh districts

1. 5 Ratepayers, 3 Tenants Association, 1 Unofficial Labour
2. 7 Independent Labour, 7 Ratepayers, 1 Tenants and Residents
3. ^ Ratepayers
4. Independent Socialist
5. Communist
6. 1 Ratepayers, 4 vacancies
7. 3 Ratepayers, 1 Independent Labour
8. 1 Ratepayers, 1 Communist
9. 3 Independent Ratepayers, 2 Ratepayers
10. 3 Rent and Ratepayers, Communist 2

Non-metropolitan districts

Avon

1. 1 Residents Association, 2 vacancies

Bedfordshire

Berkshire

1. ^ Ratepayers

Buckinghamshire

1. 4 Residents, 3 Ratepayers

Cambridgeshire

1. Vacancy

Cheshire

1. ^ Ratepayers
2. Moderate Party

Cleveland

Cornwall

Cumbria

1. Independent Conservative

Derbyshire

Devon

1. Independent Trade Unionist

Dorset

1. Vacancy

Durham

1. Independent Labour
2. People's Representative

East Sussex

1. Vacancies
2. Ratepayers

Essex

1. ^ Ratepayers

Gloucestershire

1. Ratepayers
2. Including 2 Labour & Co-Operative
3. Vacancies

Hampshire

1. ^ Ratepayers
2. 1 Ratepayers, 1 Tenants

Hereford and Worcester

1. ^ Ratepayers
2. Independent Conservative

Hertfordshire

1. Ratepayers

Humberside

1. Independent Labour

Isle of Wight

1. Ratepayers

Kent

1. ^ Ratepayers

Lancashire

1. Independent Labour
2. Ratepayers

Leicestershire

Lincolnshire

1. 2 Independent Conservative, 42 others
2. Democratic Labour

Norfolk

1. Independent Conservative

North Yorkshire

1. ^ Vacancy

Northamptonshire

1. Independent Socialist
2. Ratepayers

Northumberland

1. Ratepayers

Nottinghamshire

1. Socialist Independent
2. Independent Ratepayers

Oxfordshire

1. Progressive Independent
2. Independent Liberal

Salop

1. Independent Labour

Somerset

1. Vacancy

Staffordshire

1. Ratepayers
2. Independent Labour

Suffolk

1. 9 others, 1 vacancy
2. ^ Independent Conservative

Surrey

1. ^ Ratepayers
2. Residents

Warwickshire

1. ^ Ratepayers

West Sussex

1. Shoreham Beach Residents Association
2. Residents
3. Ratepayers

Wiltshire

1. 2 Ratepayers, 2 vacancies

Future elections

The next county council elections took place in 1977.

Future elections to Metropolitan District councils were to be by thirds, with the one third of seats being elected in 1975.

The next election of non-metropolitan district councils and Welsh district councils was to in 1976.

Northern Ireland

Local government in Northern Ireland was reorganised in 1973 by the Local Government (Boundaries) Act (Northern Ireland) 1971 and the Local Government Act (Northern Ireland) 1972. The county councils, county borough and municipal borough corporations and urban and rural district councils were replaced by twenty-six Local Government districts. Elections took place for all the seats on the district councils on 30 May, and the councils came into their power in 1 October.

Scotland

Local elections were also held in Scotland in 1973. At the time of the election, Scotland was the only part of the UK in which local government had yet to be reformed, with the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 only receiving Royal Assent in October 1973. The election saw Labour maintaining their control of Aberdeen, Glasgow, and Dundee, although failing to make gains in Edinburgh.

References

1. Rallings, Colin; Thrasher, Michael. Local Elections Handbook 1973. The Elections Centre. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
2. "Council compositions". The Elections Centre. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
3. "Councils offered five more months before changes". The Times. 18 February 1972.
4. "Election dates in 1973 for new local councils". The Times. 26 May 1972.
5. "Labour sweep to victory in London and all six of the metropolitan counties". The Times. 13 April 1973.
6. "Labour take over metropolitan counties and 11 other councils". The Times. 14 April 1973.
7. "Three major parties find cause for satisfaction in local election results despite low poll". The Times. 14 May 1973.
8. "Final poll result may lie with Independents". The Times. 8 June 1973.
9. "Liberals capture Eastbourne and exceed ambition to win 1,000 local government seats". The Times. 8 June 1973.
10. Local Government Act 1972, sections 7 and 26
11. Damkat, Ivo (29 October 2003). "The 1973 Local Government Elections". www.ark.ac.uk. Economic and Social Research Council.
12. "Big Roman Catholic turnout in poll despite threats". The Times. 31 May 1973.
13. "Party accused over Ulster poll". The Times. 31 May 1973.
14. "Unionist supporters elect many hard-line men in Ulster local government poll". The Times. 2 June 1973.

v t e (1972 ←) 1973 United Kingdom local elections (→ 1974)
County councils (England)	Avon Bedfordshire Berkshire Buckinghamshire Cambridgeshire Cheshire Cleveland Cornwall Cumbria Derbyshire Devon Dorset Durham East Sussex Essex Gloucestershire Greater Manchester Hampshire Hereford and Worcester Hertfordshire Humberside Isle of Wight Kent Lancashire Leicestershire Lincolnshire Luton Merseyside Norfolk North Yorkshire Northamptonshire Northumberland Nottinghamshire Oxfordshire Salop Somerset South Yorkshire Staffordshire Suffolk Surrey Tyne and Wear Warwickshire West Midlands West Sussex West Yorkshire Wiltshire
County councils (Wales)	Clwyd Dyfed Gwent Gwynedd Mid Glamorgan Powys South Glamorgan West Glamorgan
County councils (Scotland)	Aberdeenshire Angus Argyll Ayrshire Banffshire Berwickshire Buteshire Caithness Clackmannanshire Dumfriesshire Dunbartonshire East Lothian Fife Inverness-shire Kincardineshire Kinross-shire Kirkcudbrightshire Lanarkshire Midlothian Moray Nairnshire Orkney Peeblesshire Perthshire Renfrewshire Ross and Cromarty Roxburghshire Selkirkshire Stirlingshire Sutherland West Lothian Wigtownshire Zetland
Unicameral area	Greater London
Metropolitan boroughs	Barnsley Birmingham Bradford Bolton Bury Calderdale Coventry Doncaster Dudley Gateshead Kirklees Knowsley Leeds Liverpool Manchester Newcastle upon Tyne North Tyneside Oldham Rochdale Rotherham Salford Sandwell Sefton Sheffield Solihull South Tyneside St Helens Stockport Sunderland Tameside Trafford Wakefield Walsall Wigan Wirral Wolverhampton
Counties of cities (Scotland)	Aberdeen Dundee Edinburgh Glasgow
District councils (England)	Adur Allerdale Alnwick Amber Valley Arun Ashfield Ashford Aylesbury Vale Babergh Barrow-in-Furness Basildon Basingstoke Bassetlaw Bath Beaconsfield Bedford Berwick-upon-Tweed Beverley Blaby Blackburn Blackpool Blyth Valley Bolsover Boothferry Boston Bosworth 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 Dacorum Darlington Dartford Daventry Derby Derwentside Dover Durham Easington East Cambridgeshire East Devon 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 Hartley Wintney Hastings Havant Hereford Hertsmere High Peak 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 Newark Newbury Newcastle-under-Lyme North Cornwall North Devon North Dorset North East Derbyshire North Hertfordshire North Kesteven North Shropshire North Warwickshire North West Leicestershire North Wiltshire North Wolds Northampton Northavon Norwich Nottingham Nuneaton Oadby and Wigston Oswestry Oxford Pastonacres Pendle Penwith Peterborough Petersfield 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 Slough Spelthorne South Bedfordshire South Cambridgeshire South Derbyshire South Hams South Herefordshire South Holland South Kesteven South Lakeland South Norfolk South Northamptonshire 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 Three Rivers Thurrock Tiverton Tonbridge and Malling Torbay Torridge Tunbridge Wells Tynedale Uttlesford Vale of White Horse Vale Royal Wallingford 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 Wrekin 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
District councils (Northern Ireland)	Antrim Ards Armagh Ballymena Ballymoney Banbridge Belfast Carrickfergus Castlereagh Coleraine Cookstown Craigavon Down Dungannon Fermanagh Larne Limavady Lisburn Londonderry Magherafelt Moyle Newry and Mourne Newtownabbey North Down Omagh Strabane
Town councils	Airdrie Arbroath Ayr Clydebank Coatbridge Dunfermline Dumfries East Kilbride Falkirk Greenock Hamilton Inverness Kilmarnock Motherwell and Wishaw Paisley Perth Port Glasgow
Sui generis	Isles of Scilly