1982 United Kingdom local elections

← 1981 6 May 1982 1983 →
All 32 London boroughs, all 36 metropolitan boroughs, 103 out of 296 English districts and all 12 Scottish regions
Majority party Minority party Third party   Leader Margaret Thatcher Michael Foot David Steel & Gang of Four Party Conservative Labour Alliance Leader since 11 February 1975 10 November 1980 7 July 1976 & 26 March 1981 Percentage 40% 29% 27% Swing 2% 12% 10% Councillors 10,447 8,774 1,850 Councillors +/- 98 225 395

Local elections were held in the United Kingdom in 1982.^[1][2] The elections coincided with rising popularity of the Conservative government and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, which was mostly attributed to the Falklands War.^{[citation needed]} The projected share of the vote was Conservatives 40%, Labour 29%, Liberal-SDP Alliance 27%.

Elections were held in several English boroughs, including all those in London.

The Conservatives held their ground, losing only 98 seats, leaving them with 10,447 seats.

The main opposition Labour Party, under the leadership of Michael Foot, lost 225 seats, finishing with 8,774 councillors.

For the newly formed Liberal-SDP Alliance, the 1982 local elections were the first annual electoral test. They gained 395 seats and finished with 1,850 councillors. This meant that the Alliance had almost as many votes as Labour, but Labour still had nearly five times as many councillors.

Summary of results

England

London boroughs

In all 32 London boroughs the whole council was up for election.

‡ New ward boundaries

Metropolitan boroughs

Whole council

In 13 metropolitan boroughs the whole council was up for election.

In 13 boroughs there were new ward boundaries, following electoral boundary reviews by the Local Government Boundary Commission for England.

‡ New ward boundaries

Third of council

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

District councils

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

Scotland

Regional councils