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One third of 78 seats on Sunderland Metropolitan Borough Council 40 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The 1975 Sunderland Metropolitan Borough Council election was held on 1 May 1975. A third of the seats on the Council were up for election, with each of the 26 council wards returning one councillor by first-past-the-post. The election was held on the same day as other local elections.
The new Sunderland Metropolitan Borough Council had been formed following the Local Government Act 1972 - all councillors on the new council were elected in an all-up election in 1973. The order in which the councillors were elected in the 1973 election dictated their term serving, with third-place candidates in each ward serving two years and up for re-election in 1975.[1] Labour had come out of the 1973 elections with a clear majority ahead of the Conservatives.
Labour maintained a comfortable majority on the Council after the election, despite losing four seats. The Conservatives gained seats from Labour in Deptford and Pallion ward and Humbledon ward, whilst the Liberals took a seat from Labour in Houghton-le-Spring. An Independent Labour Party candidate took a seat from Labour in Silksworth.
| Party | Seats | Gains | Losses | Net gain/loss | Seats % | Votes % | Votes | +/− | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labour | 15 | 0 | 4 |  4
|
57.7 | 38.8 | 22,066 | 12.8
| |
| Conservative | 9 | 2 | 0 |  2
|
34.6 | 35.4 | 20,166 | 0.7
| |
| Liberal | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1
|
3.8 | 19.3 | 10,995 | 12.4
| |
| All Sunderland District Action Group | 0 | 0 | 0 | 
|
0 | 3.4 | 1,925 | 3.4
| |
| Ind. Labour Party | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1
|
3.8 | 2.8 | 1,593 | 1.3
| |
| Communist | 0 | 0 | 0 |
|
0 | 0.2 | 123 | 0.1
| |
| Independent | 0 | 0 | 0 |
|
0 | 0.1 | 42 | 1.2
| |
The election resulted in the following composition of the Council:
| Party | Council | |
|---|---|---|
| Labour | 52 | |
| Conservatives | 23 | |
| Liberal | 1 | |
| Independent Labour | 1 | |
| Independent | 1 | |
| Total | 78 | |
| Working majority | 26 | |
