Map of the results of the 1990 Wigan council election.

Elections to the Wigan council were held on Thursday, 3 May 1990, with one third of the seats up for election with an additional vacancy in Bryn. Previous to the election there had also been a by-election in Abram, which the Labour Party successfully defended. Despite a wider array of parties - mainly a product from the fractious SLD merger - contesting the election, in several ways it beat 1986's lows in participation. A record of six seats went uncontested as one quarter of the council's wards held no elections, with the Conservatives contesting one half of the wards (an all-time low) and the SLD one quarter (the lowest since 1979). The Greens repeated their last year's total of four candidates, but with only two in the same wards as previous. Elsewhere, Independent John Vickers fought his first of many elections in Hindley Green and the respective Social Democrat and Liberal sides opposed to Alliance merging into the SLD fielded a sole candidate each - the latter of which having previously came within a straw of winning Langtree for the SLD.

The night seen numerous surprising gains, with Labour gaining another seat in the SLD bastion of Langtree, and for the first time, in the Conservative's bastion of Swinley, whilst the SLD managed its own breakthrough in the Labour territory of Hope Carr. With dwindling hopes of ever regaining Orrell, Swinley had become the Conservative's bulwark in recent years, and the Labour gain here raised the prospects of Conservative representation being removed altogether from the council. The loss of Hope Carr denied Labour a clean-sweep, but they managed an all-time high of winning all-but-one of the wards, and bettering their last year's record in voter share. Overall turnout in those wards contesting rose to a local elections high (with the 1979 election omitted for coinciding with the general election) of 39.4%.[1]

Election result

Wigan Local Election Result 1990
Party Seats Gains Losses Net gain/loss Seats % Votes % Votes +/−
  Labour 24 2 1 +1 96.0 69.2 48,633 +0.6%
  SLD 1 1 1 0 4.0 11.2 7,852 -1.4%
  Conservative 0 0 1 -1 0.0 13.2 9,288 -3.9%
  Green 0 0 0 0 0.0 3.3 2,320 +1.8%
  Liberal 0 0 0 0 0.0 1.6 1,153 +1.6%
  Independent 0 0 0 0 0.0 0.9 663 +0.9%
  SDP 0 0 0 0 0.0 0.5 391 +0.5%

This result had the following consequences for the total number of seats on the Council after the elections:

Party Previous council New council
Labour 63 64
Social and Liberal Democrats 5 5
Conservatives 3 2
Independent Labour 1 1
Green 0 0
Liberal 0 0
Independent 0 0
Social Democrat 0 0
Total 72 72
Working majority  54   56 

Ward results

Abram[1]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour J. Tiernan Unopposed N/A N/A
Labour hold Swing N/A
Ashton-Golborne[1]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour S. Lea 2,844 79.0 +0.8
Conservative I. Cunliffe 756 21.0 -0.8
Majority 2,088 58.0 +1.7
Turnout 3,600 36.7 +8.7
Labour hold Swing +0.8
Aspull-Standish[1]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour J. Hilton 2,681 53.3 +5.4
SLD D. Brown 1,518 30.2 -5.6
Conservative J. Carrington 831 16.5 +0.2
Majority 1,163 23.1 +11.0
Turnout 5,030 46.1 +2.6
Labour hold Swing +5.5
Atherton[1]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour L. Sumner 2,594 80.3 -1.5
Green S. Bickerton 636 19.7 +19.7
Majority 1,958 60.6 -3.0
Turnout 3,230 35.3 -0.6
Labour hold Swing -10.6
Bedford-Astley[1]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour F. Walker 2,380 70.4 +7.9
Green I. Graham 998 29.5 +19.6
Majority 1,382 40.9 +5.9
Turnout 3,378 33.9 +2.4
Labour hold Swing -5.8
Beech Hill[1]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour T. Bishop 2,095 51.1 +6.3
SLD V. Milton 2,001 48.8 +1.1
Majority 94 2.3 -0.6
Turnout 4,096 46.5 +5.6
Labour hold Swing +2.6
Bryn[1]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour A. Melling 2,783 80.7 -1.2
Labour M. Millington 2,411
Conservative B. Smith 663 19.2 +1.2
Majority 2,120 61.5 -2.4
Turnout 3,446 34.8 +3.6
Labour hold Swing
Labour hold Swing -1.2
Hindley[1]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour G. Green 2,656 74.7 -12.5
SLD C. Barton 558 15.7 +15.7
Green A. Wood 342 9.6 -3.2
Majority 2,098 59.0 -15.3
Turnout 3,556 36.9 +8.4
Labour hold Swing -14.1
Hindley Green[1]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour W. Simmons 2,741 72.2 -8.3
Independent J. Vickers 663 17.5 +17.5
SDP V. Norris 391 10.3 +10.3
Majority 2,078 54.7 -6.4
Turnout 3,795 32.6 +8.5
Labour hold Swing -12.9
Hindsford[1]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour A. Wright Unopposed N/A N/A
Labour hold Swing N/A
Hope Carr[1]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
SLD E. Herdman 1,956 51.1 +51.1
Labour P. Culshaw 1,870 48.9 -14.1
Majority 86 2.2 -23.7
Turnout 3,826 37.8 +4.6
SLD gain from Labour Swing +32.6
Ince[1]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour T. Davies Unopposed N/A N/A
Labour hold Swing N/A
Langtree[1]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour J. O'Neill 2,606 49.4 +7.6
Liberal K. White 1,153 21.8 +21.8
SLD A. Robinson 899 17.0 -24.8
Conservative J. Wolstenholme 618 11.7 -4.6
Majority 1,453 27.5 +27.5
Turnout 5,276 47.0 +4.9
Labour gain from SLD Swing -7.1
Leigh Central[1]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour P. Smith Unopposed N/A N/A
Labour hold Swing N/A
Leigh East[1]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour T. Harper Unopposed N/A N/A
Labour hold Swing N/A
Lightshaw[1]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour T. Sherratt 3,538 75.9 +2.6
Conservative S. Hide 1,122 24.1 +5.6
Majority 2,416 51.8 -3.0
Turnout 4,660 43.8 +7.0
Labour hold Swing -1.5
Newtown[1]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour K. Pye 3,254 89.6 +3.1
Conservative J. Whitehead 378 10.4 -3.1
Majority 2,876 79.2 +6.2
Turnout 3,632 39.2 +9.3
Labour hold Swing +3.1
Norley[1]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour N. Turner 3,102 93.2 +4.6
Conservative G. Peach 227 6.8 +0.5
Majority 2,875 86.3 +4.2
Turnout 3,329 43.0 +9.5
Labour hold Swing +2.0
Orrell[1]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour G. Seaward 2,719 68.0 +8.2
Conservative C. Michaels 1,276 31.9 -8.2
Majority 1,443 36.1 +16.3
Turnout 3,995 39.0 +2.0
Labour hold Swing +8.2
Swinley[1]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour S. Turner 2,282 52.1 +13.2
Conservative C. Giles 2,095 47.8 -0.4
Majority 187 4.3 -5.1
Turnout 4,377 49.1 +2.4
Labour gain from Conservative Swing +6.8
Tyldesley East[1]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour B. Wilson Unopposed N/A N/A
Labour hold Swing N/A
Whelley[1]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour W. Pendleton 2,686 78.9 -2.5
Conservative F. Sidebotham 373 10.9 -0.6
Green J. Ford 344 10.1 +10.1
Majority 2,313 68.0 -1.9
Turnout 3,403 38.1 +7.7
Labour hold Swing -0.9
Winstanley[1]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour W. Evans 2,799 63.3 +9.2
SLD P. Mayston 920 20.8 -25.1
Conservative J. Horswell 701 15.8 +15.8
Majority 1,879 42.5 +34.3
Turnout 4,420 37.5 +5.4
Labour hold Swing +17.1
Worsley Mesnes[1]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour H. Milligan 3,003 92.4 +6.5
Conservative J. Grimshaw 248 7.6 -6.5
Majority 2,755 84.7 +13.1
Turnout 3,251 33.1 +7.8
Labour hold Swing +6.5

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y "Wigan Council results from 1973 to 2008" (PDF). wigan.gov.uk. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 November 2011. Retrieved 30 January 2012.
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