1971 Manchester City Council election

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1971 Manchester City Council election

← 1970 13 May 1971 (1971-05-13) 1972 →
99 of 132 seats to Manchester City Council 76 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party   Party Labour Conservative Seats before 66 86 Seats won 81 18 Seats after 108 24 Seat change 42 62 Popular vote 283,756 167,964 Percentage 60.2% 35.6%
Map of results of 1971 election
Leader of the Council before election Conservative Leader of the Council after election Labour

Elections to Manchester City Council were held on Thursday, 13 May 1971. Due to boundary changes, which reduced the number of wards by five, all 99 councillors seats were up for election. In all wards, each first-placed candidate was set to serve a three-year term, expiring in 1974, second-placed candidates were set to serve a two-year term, expiring in 1973, and third-placed candidates were to serve a one-year term, expiring in 1972. However, due the replacement of the corporation by the Local Government Act 1972, only one set of these scheduled elections ever took place.

The Labour Party gained overall control of the council from the Conservative Party, winning the largest share of seats on the council in its history up to that point.^[1][2][3]