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 (92 councillors). 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 Council Con Lab Lib IndOthersControlGreater Manchester23691310style="text-align:left" Merseyside26531901style="text-align:left" South Yorkshire1382140style="text-align:left" Tyne and Wear2674130style="text-align:left" West Midlands2674400style="text-align:left" West Yorkshire25511110style="text-align:left"
Non-metropolitan county councils Council Con Lab Lib IndOthersControlDetailsAvon3632230style="text-align:left" DetailsBedfordshire3239831style="text-align:left" DetailsBerkshire42261350style="text-align:left" (Conservative-Independent)DetailsBuckinghamshire36184120style="text-align:left" DetailsCambridgeshire28225130style="text-align:left" DetailsCheshire3129160style="text-align:left" DetailsCleveland3552020style="text-align:left" DetailsCornwall310750style="text-align:left" DetailsCumbria3138160style="text-align:left" DetailsDerbyshire2660570style="text-align:left" DetailsDevon542011120style="text-align:left" DetailsDorset471311200style="text-align:left" DetailsDurham256670style="text-align:left" DetailsEast Sussex4819980style="text-align:left" DetailsEssex4740550style="text-align:left" (Conservative minority)DetailsGloucestershire3118570style="text-align:left" DetailsHampshire44276200style="text-align:left" (Conservative-Independent)DetailsHereford and Worcester37308170style="text-align:left" (Conservative-Independent)DetailsHertfordshire3333321style="text-align:left" DetailsHumberside3651372style="text-align:left" DetailsIsle of Wight667230style="text-align:left" DetailsKent6331720style="text-align:left" DetailsLancashire5233731style="text-align:left" DetailsLeicestershire4137780style="text-align:left" (Conservative-Independent)DetailsLincolnshire34103220style="text-align:left" DetailsNorfolk5227040style="text-align:left" DetailsNorth Yorkshire391212290style="text-align:left" (Conservative-Independent)DetailsNorthamptonshire3846342style="text-align:left" DetailsNorthumberland 10280210style="text-align:left" DetailsNottinghamshire3554000style="text-align:left" DetailsOxfordshire36210100style="text-align:left" DetailsSalop14163300style="text-align:left" DetailsSomerset3572120style="text-align:left" DetailsStaffordshire2847190style="text-align:left" DetailsSuffolk4729303style="text-align:left" DetailsSurrey4612950style="text-align:left" DetailsWarwickshire2721520style="text-align:left" DetailsWest Sussex52107131style="text-align:left" DetailsWiltshire40226110style="text-align:left" Details
Welsh county councils Council Con Lab Lib PC IndOthersControlClwyd112040301style="text-align:left" Dyfed02981401style="text-align:left" Gwent12593112style="text-align:left" Gwynedd0406560style="text-align:left" Mid Glamorgan3632662style="text-align:left" Powys3730380style="text-align:left" South Glamorgan35420030style="text-align:left" West Glamorgan9522142style="text-align:left"
Greater London Council
Council Con Lab LibControlGreater London32582style="text-align:left"
Metropolitan districts CouncilCounty Con Lab Lib IndOthersControlDetailsBarnsleySouth Yorkshire057012style="text-align:left" DetailsBirminghamWest Midlands4473900style="text-align:left" DetailsBoltonGreater Manchester3531210style="text-align:left" DetailsBradfordWest Yorkshire5331900style="text-align:left" DetailsBuryGreater Manchester2120700style="text-align:left" DetailsCalderdaleWest Yorkshire1828500style="text-align:left" DetailsCoventryWest Midlands1242000style="text-align:left" DetailsDoncasterSouth Yorkshire1243041style="text-align:left" DetailsDudleyWest Midlands2440111style="text-align:left" DetailsGatesheadTyne and Wear671001style="text-align:left" DetailsKirkleesWest Yorkshire1845810style="text-align:left" DetailsKnowsleyMerseyside652401style="text-align:left" DetailsLeedsWest Yorkshire38441400style="text-align:left" DetailsLiverpoolMerseyside9424800style="text-align:left" (Liberal minority)DetailsManchesterGreater Manchester4059000style="text-align:left" DetailsNewcastle upon TyneTyne and Wear2351130style="text-align:left" DetailsNorth TynesideTyne and Wear1948740style="text-align:left" DetailsOldhamGreater Manchester642513style="text-align:left" DetailsRochdaleGreater Manchester1437900style="text-align:left" DetailsRotherhamSouth Yorkshire350010style="text-align:left" DetailsSt HelensMerseyside936000style="text-align:left" DetailsSalfordGreater Manchester1550100style="text-align:left" DetailsSandwellWest Midlands2466000style="text-align:left" DetailsSeftonMerseyside3724323style="text-align:left" DetailsSheffieldSouth Yorkshire1869300style="text-align:left" DetailsSolihullWest Midlands2812290style="text-align:left" DetailsSouth TynesideTyne and Wear3450018style="text-align:left" DetailsStockportGreater Manchester27161340style="text-align:left" (Conservative-Independent)DetailsSunderlandTyne and Wear2156010style="text-align:left" DetailsTamesideGreater Manchester1438200style="text-align:left" DetailsTraffordGreater Manchester32161200style="text-align:left" DetailsWakefieldWest Yorkshire658011style="text-align:left" DetailsWalsallWest Midlands1144023style="text-align:left" DetailsWiganGreater Manchester566010style="text-align:left" DetailsWirralMerseyside29241300style="text-align:left" DetailsWolverhamptonWest Midlands2040000style="text-align:left" Details
Welsh districts