1982 London local elections

1982 London local elections
← 1978 6 May 1982 1986 →
All 1,914 on all 32 London boroughs
  First party Second party Third party
  Margaret Thatcher Michael Foot
Leader Margaret Thatcher Michael Foot David Steel (Lib.)
Collective (SDP)
Party Conservative Labour SDP–Liberal Alliance
Leader since 11 February 1975 10 November 1980 1976 (Steel), 1981 (SDP)
Popular vote 912,005 652,430 530,340
Percentage 42.2% 30.2% 24.6%
Swing Decrease6.5% Decrease8.9% Increase17.5%
Councils 17 12 0
Councils +/– Steady Decrease2 Steady
Councillors 984 781 124
Councillors +/– Increase24 Decrease101 Increase94
Results by Borough in 1982.

Local government elections took place in London, and some other parts of the United Kingdom on Thursday 6 May 1982. Ward changes took place in Enfield which increased the total number of councillors by 6 from 1,908 to 1,914.

All London borough council seats were up for election. Both major parties lost votes to the SDP-Liberal Alliance, but whilst the Conservatives gained 20 council seats, Labour lost 101.

The party's result of 30.4%, 12 councils and 781 councillors was the worst Labour result since 1968.

The previous Borough elections in London were in 1978.[1]

To date, this remains the last London local election in which the Conservatives won a majority of council seats or councils, as well as the last time the party won over 40% of the vote. The Conservatives would not win the popular vote in a London local election for another two decades, and would not win a plurality of seats in London again until the election of 2006, 24 years later.

  1. ^ Minors, Michael; Grenham, Dennis. "London Borough Council Elections 7 May 1998 including the Greater London Authority Referendum results" (PDF). Demographic and Statistical Studies. London Research Centre. Retrieved 29 May 2014.