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    1977 local elections handbook

    Final edition

    Scheduled council elections held between April and June 1977, from our ward results. This is the final edition. Where our results for a council are incomplete, its figures will be too low.

    Councils
    56
    Wards
    3,676
    Seats
    693
    Candidates
    10,256
    Votes
    15,017,105

    Seats won by party

    PartySeatsCandidatesVotesVote share*
    Conservative
    4243,4067,987,78257.9%
    Labour
    2413,1264,551,43733.0%
    The Liberal Party
    19399479,3283.5%
    Residents
    53337,9840.3%
    Independent
    3837522,3943.8%
    Other
    1407218,8841.6%

    *Note on vote share: this is each party's share of the votes cast in the wards we hold for 1977. It is not an estimate for the whole country: many councils did not vote this year, some of our results may be missing, and in wards with several seats each voter had several votes.

    National Equivalent Vote — our estimate

    What each party's share might have been if the whole of Great Britain had voted in 1977. Built from 3,189 wards that did vote, compared like-for-like with the last time each ward voted, then carried across the places that didn't vote using the change in their region. Shown beside the Elections Centre's published figure where we hold it.

    PartyOur estimateElections Centre
    CON
    54.4%57%
    LAB
    24.5%31%
    LIB
    7.6%—
    IND
    5.8%—
    The Liberal Party
    1.7%—
    RES
    1.7%—
    PC
    1.0%—
    Other
    0.7%5%
    RATE
    0.6%—

    How far to trust this: it is an estimate, not a count. It uses each party's best-placed candidate in each ward, so multi-seat wards don't inflate anyone. Parties that stand in only a few places stay in those places. Where our ward records are incomplete for a year, the estimate is less reliable — compare it with the Elections Centre column.

    Councils changing hands (22)

    CouncilBeforeAfter
    AvonNo overall controlConservative
    BedfordshireNo overall controlConservative
    BerkshireNo overall controlConservative
    CambridgeshireNo overall controlConservative
    CheshireNo overall controlConservative
    CumbriaNo overall controlConservative
    DerbyshireLabourConservative
    GloucestershireNo overall controlConservative
    GwentLabourNo overall control
    HertfordshireNo overall controlConservative
    HumbersideLabourConservative
    Isle Of WightOtherConservative
    LeicestershireNo overall controlConservative
    LincolnshireNo overall controlConservative
    North YorkshireNo overall controlConservative
    NorthamptonshireLabourConservative
    NottinghamshireLabourConservative
    ShropshireNo overall controlConservative
    South GlamorganLabourConservative
    StaffordshireLabourConservative
    WarwickshireNo overall controlConservative
    WiltshireNo overall controlConservative

    Every council (56)

    CouncilWardsSeatsBeforeAfter
    Avon620No overall controlConservative
    Bedfordshire450No overall controlConservative
    Bedfordshire40——
    Berkshire690No overall controlConservative
    Berkshire County Council30——
    Buckinghamshire380ConservativeConservative
    Cambridgeshire660No overall controlConservative
    Cheshire630No overall controlConservative
    Cheshire20——
    Cleveland460——
    Clwyd520——
    Cornwall750OtherOther
    Cumbria700No overall controlConservative
    Derbyshire870LabourConservative
    Devon870ConservativeConservative
    Dorset780ConservativeConservative
    Durham720——
    Dyfed800OtherOther
    East Sussex770ConservativeConservative
    Essex920ConservativeConservative
    Gloucestershire610No overall controlConservative
    Greater London Council9292——
    Greater Manchester County Council104106——
    Gwent660LabourNo overall control
    Gwynedd640OtherOther
    Hampshire890ConservativeConservative
    Hertfordshire670No overall controlConservative
    Humberside610LabourConservative
    Isle Of Wight310OtherConservative
    Kent990ConservativeConservative
    Lancashire940ConservativeConservative
    Leicestershire730No overall controlConservative
    Lincolnshire730No overall controlConservative
    Merseyside County Council9599——
    Mid Glamorgan670LabourLabour
    Norfolk750ConservativeConservative
    North Yorkshire890No overall controlConservative
    Northamptonshire750LabourConservative
    Northumberland500No overall controlNo overall control
    Nottinghamshire610LabourConservative
    Oxfordshire670ConservativeConservative
    Powys520OtherOther
    Shropshire540No overall controlConservative
    Somerset530ConservativeConservative
    South Glamorgan70LabourConservative
    South Yorkshire County Council74100——
    Staffordshire780LabourConservative
    Suffolk690ConservativeConservative
    Surrey690ConservativeConservative
    Tyne and Wear County Council95104——
    Warwickshire500No overall controlConservative
    West Glamorgan360LabourLabour
    West Midlands County Council96104——
    West Sussex730ConservativeConservative
    West Yorkshire County Council8388——
    Wiltshire660No overall controlConservative

    See also Election Health for 1977's competitiveness figures and Council Control.