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1983 United Kingdom local elections

← 1982 5 May 1983 1984 →
All 36 metropolitan boroughs, all 296 English districts and all 37 Welsh districts
Majority party Minority party Third party   Leader Margaret Thatcher Michael Foot David Steel & Roy Jenkins Party Conservative Labour Alliance Leader since 11 February 1975 10 November 1980 7 July 1976 (Steel) 2 July 1982 (Jenkins) Percentage 39% 36% 20% Councillors 10,557 8,782 2,171 Councillors +/- 110 8 321

Local elections were held in the United Kingdom in 1983. The results were a success for Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who soon afterwards called a general election in which the Conservatives won a landslide victory. The projected share of the vote was Conservative 39%, Labour Party 36%, Liberal-SDP Alliance 20%.

The three major parties all made net gains at the expense of smaller parties and independents, despite a slight reduction in the number of councillors. The Conservatives gained 110 seats, giving them 10,557 councillors. Labour gained just 8 seats, finishing with 8,782 seats. The Liberal-SDP Alliance gained 321 seats, finishing with 2,171 seats. It was a decent showing for Labour, with a much larger share of the vote than any opinion poll had shown since the party's split in 1981, but a major disappointment for the Alliance. However, the subsequent general election saw the Conservative government elected by a landslide, while the Alliance came close to Labour in terms of votes, although Labour won almost 10 times as many seats.

Summary of results

This section is empty. You can help by adding to it. (September 2015)

England

Metropolitan boroughs

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

District councils

Whole council

In 193 districts the whole council was up for election.

In 54 districts there were new ward boundaries, following electoral boundary reviews by the Local Government Boundary Commission for England.

‡ New ward boundaries

Third of council

In 103 districts one third of the council was up for election.

Wales

District councils

References

1. Rallings, Colin; Thrasher, Michael. Local Elections Handbook 1983. The Elections Centre. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
2. "Council compositions". The Elections Centre. Retrieved 3 May 2016.

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

v t e (1982 ←) 1983 United Kingdom local elections (→ 1984)
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 and Deane Bassetlaw Bath Berwick-upon-Tweed 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 Chester Chesterfield Chester-le-Street 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 East Yorkshire East Yorkshire Borough of Beverley Eastbourne Eastleigh Eden Ellesmere Port and Neston Elmbridge Epping Forest Epsom and Ewell Erewash Exeter Fareham Fenland Forest Heath Forest of Dean Fylde Gedling Gillingham Glanford Gloucester Gosport Gravesham Great Grimsby Great Yarmouth Guildford Halton Hambleton Harborough Harlow Harrogate Hart Hartlepool Hastings Havant Hereford Hertsmere High Peak Hinckley and Bosworth Holderness Horsham Hove Huntingdon Hyndburn Ipswich Kennet Kerrier Kettering King's Lynn and West Norfolk Kingston upon Hull Kingswood Lancaster Langbaurgh Leicester Leominster Lewes Lichfield Lincoln Luton Macclesfield Maidstone Maldon Malvern Hills Mansfield Medina Melton Mendip Mid Bedfordshire Mid Devon Mid Suffolk Mid Sussex Middlesbrough Milton Keynes Mole Valley New Forest Newark Newbury 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 Northampton Northavon Norwich Nottingham Nuneaton and Bedworth Oadby and Wigston Oswestry Oxford Pendle Penwith Peterborough Plymouth Poole Portsmouth Preston Purbeck Reading Redditch Reigate and Banstead Restormel Ribble Valley Richmondshire Rochester-upon-Medway Rochford Rossendale Rother Rugby Runnymede Rushcliffe Rushmoor Rutland Ryedale Salisbury Scarborough Scunthorpe Sedgefield Sedgemoor Selby Sevenoaks Shepway Shrewsbury and Atcham Slough South Bedfordshire South Bucks South Cambridgeshire South Derbyshire South Hams South Herefordshire South Holland South Kesteven South Lakeland South Norfolk South Northamptonshire South Oxfordshire South Ribble South Shropshire South Staffordshire South Wight Southampton Southend-on-Sea Spelthorne 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 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 Oxfordshire West Somerset West Wiltshire Weymouth and Portland Wimborne Winchester Windsor and Maidenhead 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
See also: UK General election

v t e Elections and referendums in the United Kingdom
General elections	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 2024 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 2018 2019 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
European elections	1979 1984 1989 1994 1999 2004 2009 2014 2019
Referendums	1975 2011 2016
See also Elections in England Northern Ireland Scotland Wales Great Britain

• 1983 United Kingdom local elections
• May 1983 events in the United Kingdom