1978 Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council election

1978 UK local government election

Map of the results for the 1978 Wigan council election. Labour in red and Conservatives in blue.

Elections to Wigan Council were held on 4 May 1978, with one third of the council up for election as well as vacancies in Ward 2 and 17. Previous to the election, a Labour councillor in Ward 9 defected to become an Independent Labour, reducing Labour's majority to 38. This seat was up for vote and became the only Labour gain of the night, as they suffered five losses to the Conservatives, and their majority reduced to 30 - half of what it was in 1973. The election seen a first of all wards being contested, with turnout rising marginally to 34.7%.

Election result

Wigan Local Election Result 1978
	Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
Labour	19	1	5	-4	73.1	54.3	42,687	+3.0%
Conservative	7	5	0	+5	26.9	43.6	34,337	+2.8%
Liberal	0	0	0	0	0.0	1.7	1,331	-2.2%
Communist	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.2	147	-0.2%
Independent Labour	0	0	1	-1	0.0	0.2	146	+0.2%

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

Party		Previous council	New council
	Labour	55	51
	Conservatives	14	19
	Liberals	1	1
	Independent	1	1
	Independent Labour	1	0
Total		72	72
Working majority		38	30

Ward results

Ward 1 (Lindsay-Scholes-Whelley)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	W. Pendleton	1,980	62.9	−0.2
	Conservative	C. Giles	1,170	37.1	+0.2
Majority			810	25.8	−0.4
Turnout			3,150	34.3	+1.2
	Labour hold		Swing	-0.2

Ward 2 (Poolstock-Worsley Mesnes)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	W. Brogan	1,744	66.8	+4.3
	Labour	H. Antill	1,587
	Conservative	C. Rogers	866	33.2	+9.5
	Conservative	R. Rogers	837
Majority			878	33.6	−5.3
Turnout			2,610	29.2	+4.5
	Labour hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing	-2.6

Ward 3 (Gidlow-Swinley-Whitley)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	H. Dowling	2,731	70.5	+1.3
	Labour	M. Pendleton	1,143	29.5	−1.3
Majority			1,588	41.0	+2.6
Turnout			3,874	34.2	+0.8
	Conservative hold		Swing	+1.3

Ward 4 (Beech Hill and Marsh Green)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	E. Naylor	1,892	68.5	N/A
	Conservative	A. Atherton	869	31.5	N/A
Majority			1,023	37.1	N/A
Turnout			2,761	29.4	N/A
	Labour hold		Swing	N/A

Ward 5 (Highfield and Lamberhead)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	G. Barlow	1,553	52.4	−1.0
	Conservative	A. Foster	1,412	47.6	+1.0
Majority			141	4.8	−2.0
Turnout			2,965	26.1	−0.3
	Labour hold		Swing	-1.0

Ward 6 (Newtown and Rose Hill)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	A. Peet	1,591	66.5	+4.5
	Conservative	J. Lawson	801	33.5	+5.5
Majority			790	33.0	−0.9
Turnout			2,392	27.6	+0.2
	Labour hold		Swing	-0.5

Ward 7 (Hope Carr)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	R. Goodwin	1,711	56.2	−0.0
	Labour	A. Roberts	1,334	43.8	+0.0
Majority			377	12.4	−0.1
Turnout			3,045	43.3	−1.6
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	-0.0

Ward 8 (St Pauls and St Peters)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	G. Macdonald	1,542	62.6	+3.8
	Conservative	W. Lackenby	830	33.7	−3.4
	Communist	H. Kedward	90	3.7	−0.4
Majority			712	28.9	+7.1
Turnout			2,462	27.2	+1.4
	Labour hold		Swing	+3.6

Ward 9 (Etherstone and St Marys)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	P. Smith	1,386	46.6	−4.9
	Conservative	H. Davies	1,385	46.6	+1.1
	Independent Labour	E. Moore	146	4.9	+4.9
	Communist	K. James	57	1.9	−1.0
Majority			1	0.0	−6.0
Turnout			2,974	33.0	−2.3
	Labour gain from Independent Labour		Swing	-3.0

Ward 10 (Lilford-St Josephs-St Thomas)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	G. Wyatt	2,042	57.2	+4.6
	Labour	H. Smith	1,528	42.8	−1.2
Majority			514	14.4	+5.8
Turnout			3,570	40.3	+0.2
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	+2.9

Ward 11 (Golborne St Thomas and Lowton)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	N. Holt	2,468	58.2	−0.5
	Conservative	T. Thompson	1,776	41.8	+0.5
Majority			692	16.3	−1.0
Turnout			4,244	40.7	+1.0
	Labour hold		Swing	-0.5

Ward 12 (Golborne Heath Park and Ashton)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	J. Hilton	2,116	64.9	−5.4
	Conservative	J. Harrison	1,146	35.1	+5.4
Majority			970	29.7	−10.7
Turnout			3,262	36.7	−1.2
	Labour hold		Swing	-5.4

Ward 13 (Ashton-in-Makerfield North and West)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	A. Heckles	1,695	62.8	−4.8
	Conservative	B. Smith	1,003	37.2	+37.2
Majority			692	25.6	−9.6
Turnout			2,698	35.5	+3.5
	Labour hold		Swing	-21.0

Ward 14 (Ashton-in-Makerfield Central and East)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	S. Lea	1,645	56.7	+4.2
	Conservative	M. Ball	1,257	43.3	+14.3
Majority			388	13.4	−10.1
Turnout			2,902	32.5	−5.4
	Labour hold		Swing	-5.0

Ward 15 (Standish with Langtree and Shevington)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	G. Pullin	1,981	39.8	+4.4
	Conservative	E. Howard	1,911	38.4	+9.7
	Liberal	J. Pigot	1,089	21.9	+21.9
Majority			70	1.4	+0.8
Turnout			4,981	42.2	+3.4
	Labour hold		Swing	-2.6

Ward 16 (Aspull)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	J. Wild	1,942	48.0	+0.8
	Labour	A. Singer	1,860	46.0	+6.3
	Liberal	K. Mason	242	6.0	−7.1
Majority			82	2.0	−1.4
Turnout			4,044	41.7	+7.5
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	-2.7

Ward 17 (Atherton North East)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	J. Clarke	2,590	72.1	+5.6
	Labour	W. Murphy	2,115
	Conservative	M. Sharland	1,001	27.9	−5.6
	Conservative	B. France	895
Majority			1,589	44.2	+11.2
Turnout			3,591	34.1	+0.6
	Labour hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing	+5.6

Ward 18 (Atherton South West)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	D. Williams	1,435	52.5	−6.8
	Labour	J. Sumner	1,296	47.5	+6.8
Majority			139	5.1	−13.6
Turnout			2,731	42.1	+4.4
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	-6.8

Ward 19 (Hindley Central and North)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	C. Priestley	1,558	68.5	+1.8
	Conservative	L. McGreal	716	31.5	−1.8
Majority			842	37.0	+3.6
Turnout			2,274	30.9	+2.8
	Labour hold		Swing	+1.8

Ward 20 (Hindley South East and West)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	G. Harrison	1,720	55.8	+6.0
	Conservative	T. Whitfield	1,361	44.2	+5.2
Majority			359	11.7	+0.8
Turnout			3,081	28.3	−1.7
	Labour hold		Swing	+0.4

Ward 21 (Ince-in-Makerfield)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	R. Taylor	2,553	71.7	N/A
	Conservative	M. Jones	1,006	28.3	N/A
Majority			1,547	43.5	N/A
Turnout			3,559	31.8	N/A
	Labour hold		Swing	N/A

Ward 22 (Orrell and Billinge)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	J. Hitchen	2,723	55.3	+11.2
	Labour	J. Whittle	2,201	44.7	+9.6
Majority			522	10.6	+1.5
Turnout			4,924	35.7	+3.2
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	+0.8

Ward 23 (Tyldesley - Shakerley)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	S. Little	1,744	51.9	−1.8
	Conservative	L. Knowles	1,614	48.1	+1.8
Majority			130	3.8	−3.6
Turnout			3,358	37.5	−1.0
	Labour hold		Swing	-1.8

Ward 24 (Tyldesley - Astley Green and Blackmoor)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	S. Emerton	1,629	51.0	−4.5
	Labour	R. Rawson	1,567	49.0	+4.5
Majority			62	2.0	−9.0
Turnout			3,196	41.4	−1.2
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	-4.5

References

^ "Wigan Council results from 1973 to 2008" (PDF). wigan.gov.uk. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 November 2011. Retrieved 29 January 2012.

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