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    1989 local elections handbook

    Final edition

    Scheduled council elections held between April and June 1989, from our ward results. This is the final edition. Where our results for a council are incomplete, its figures will be too low.

    Councils
    51
    Wards
    2,357
    Seats
    2,357
    Candidates
    6,806
    Votes
    6,251,414

    Seats won by party

    PartySeatsCandidatesVotesVote share*
    Labour
    1,0292,0862,206,58435.3%
    Conservative
    8521,9542,371,59837.9%
    Liberal Democrats
    2901,5311,112,00817.8%
    Independent
    134319192,2923.1%
    Plaid Cymru - The Party of Wales
    1910760,5181.0%
    Residents
    123327,9710.4%
    Social Democratic Party
    1021497,8331.6%
    Other
    67934,9890.6%
    The Liberal Party
    498,8120.1%
    Green
    1472138,6212.2%

    *Note on vote share: this is each party's share of the votes cast in the wards we hold for 1989. 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 1989. Built from 2,179 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
    36.8%36%
    LAB
    30.6%42%
    LD
    20.5%19%
    IND
    3.5%—
    SLD
    2.8%—
    Lib/Sdp
    2.2%—
    GRN
    1.4%—

    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 (12)

    CouncilBeforeAfter
    CambridgeshireNo overall controlConservative
    ClwydNo overall controlLabour
    DevonNo overall controlConservative
    East SussexNo overall controlConservative
    EssexNo overall controlConservative
    HampshireNo overall controlConservative
    HertfordshireNo overall controlConservative
    HumbersideNo overall controlLabour
    LancashireNo overall controlLabour
    NorthumberlandNo overall controlLabour
    SomersetNo overall controlConservative
    WarwickshireNo overall controlConservative

    Every council (51)

    CouncilWardsSeatsBeforeAfter
    Avon7676No overall controlNo overall control
    Bedfordshire1111No overall controlNo overall control
    Bedfordshire6161——
    Berkshire3939ConservativeConservative
    Berkshire County Council3737——
    Buckinghamshire5959ConservativeConservative
    Cambridgeshire4848No overall controlConservative
    Cheshire1515No overall controlNo overall control
    Cheshire5656——
    Cleveland7777——
    Clwyd66No overall controlLabour
    Clwyd4848——
    Cornwall3232No overall controlNo overall control
    County Durham22LabourLabour
    Cumbria4040No overall controlNo overall control
    Derbyshire5858LabourLabour
    Devon6363No overall controlConservative
    Dorset4747ConservativeConservative
    Durham7070——
    Dyfed7070No overall controlNo overall control
    East Sussex5858No overall controlConservative
    Essex5757No overall controlConservative
    Gloucestershire3838No overall controlNo overall control
    Gwent6363LabourLabour
    Gwynedd4747OtherOther
    Hampshire7272No overall controlConservative
    Hertfordshire2525No overall controlConservative
    Humberside7575No overall controlLabour
    Isle Of Wight1212Liberal DemocratsLiberal Democrats
    Kent5858ConservativeConservative
    Lancashire4949No overall controlLabour
    Leicestershire6565No overall controlNo overall control
    Lincolnshire4343ConservativeConservative
    Mid Glamorgan7474LabourLabour
    Norfolk3131ConservativeConservative
    North Yorkshire6464No overall controlNo overall control
    Northamptonshire3939No overall controlNo overall control
    Northumberland4242No overall controlLabour
    Nottinghamshire6464LabourLabour
    Oxfordshire4444No overall controlNo overall control
    Powys2222OtherOther
    Shropshire3333No overall controlNo overall control
    Somerset2727No overall controlConservative
    South Glamorgan6262LabourLabour
    Staffordshire5151LabourLabour
    Suffolk4040ConservativeConservative
    Surrey4242ConservativeConservative
    Warwickshire2929No overall controlConservative
    West Glamorgan6161LabourLabour
    West Sussex3636ConservativeConservative
    Wiltshire1919No overall controlNo overall control

    See also Election Health for 1989's competitiveness figures and Council Control.