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1978 Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council election

← 1976 4 May 1978 (1978-05-04) 1979 →
23 of 66 seats (One Third and one by-election) to Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council 34 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	35.6% (2.2%)
First party Second party Third party   Con Lab Lib Leader Harry Deverill Bill Wells Gordon Lindsay Party Conservative Labour Liberal Leader's seat Prenton Leasowe Grange and Oxton Last election 17 seats, 54.3% 5 seats, 26.9% 1 seat, 18.4% Seats before 42 18 6 Seats won 14 6 3 Seats after 45 16 5 Seat change 3 3 1 Popular vote 51,523 26,246 14,231 Percentage 55.7% 28.4% 15.4% Swing 1.4% 1.5% 3.0%
Map of results of 1978 election
Leader of the Council before election Harry Deverill Conservative Leader of the Council after election Harry Deverill Conservative

The 1978 Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council election took place on 4 May 1978 to elect members of Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council in England. This election was held on the same day as other local elections.

After the election, the composition of the council was:

Party		Seats	±
	Conservative	45	3
	Labour	16	2
	Liberal	5	1

Election results

Overall election result

Overall result compared with 1976.

Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council election results, 1978
Party		Candidates						Votes
		Stood	Elected	Gained	Unseated	Net	% of total	%	No.	Net %
	Conservative	23	14	3	0	3	59.1	55.7	51,523	1.4
	Labour	23	6	0	2	2	27.3	28.4	26,246	1.5
	Liberal	17	3	1	2	1	13.6	15.4	14,231	3.0
	National Front	2	0	0	0		0.0	0.2	209	N/A
	Independent	1	0	0	0		0.0	0.2	191	0.2
	Communist	1	0	0	0		0.0	0.1	59	0.1

Ward results

Birkenhead

No. 1 (Argyle-Clifton-Holt)

Argyle-Clifton-Holt

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Richard Kimberly	1,240	52.7	5.8
	Liberal	Anna Blumenthal	527	22.4	16.9
	Conservative	B. Jones	506	21.5	7.7
	National Front	Howard Hawksley	78	3.3	New
Majority			713	30.3	22.7
Registered electors			7,259
Turnout				32.4	1.6
	Labour hold		Swing	11.4

No. 2 (Bebington and Mersey)

Bebington and Mersey

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	S. Kellett	1,200	48.8	7.7
	Conservative	M. Riley	1,116	45.4	5.5
	Liberal	M. McDonnell	144	5.9	2.1
Majority			84	3.4	N/A
Registered electors			7,556
Turnout				32.6	2.0
	Labour hold		Swing	6.6

No. 3 (Cathcart-Claughton-Cleveland)

Cathcart-Claughton-Cleveland

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Roy Perkins	1,366	38.8	4.1
	Conservative	D. Stoppard	1,318	37.4	5.1
	Labour	Walter Smith	841	23.9	2.6
Majority			48	1.4	9.2
Registered electors			8,641
Turnout				40.8	0.2
	Liberal hold		Swing	4.6

No. 4 (Devonshire and Egerton)

Devonshire and Egerton (2)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Myrra Lea	1,789	43.3	2.2
	Conservative	E. Williams	1,724	–	–
	Labour	J. Macdougall	1,361	32.9	1.3
	Labour	R. Leeper	1,299	–	–
	Liberal	G. Quinn	982	23.8	0.9
	Liberal	A. Halliday	944	–	–
Majority			428	10.4	3.5
Registered electors			11,925
Turnout				34.6	0.3
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing	1.8
	Conservative hold		Swing	–

No. 5 (Gilbrook and St James)

Gilbrook and St James

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	J. Flynn	1,927	72.2	13.5
	Conservative	T. Bird	493	18.5	2.4
	Liberal	D. Murgatroyd	250	9.4	11.1
Majority			1,434	53.7	15.9
Registered electors			8,376
Turnout				31.9	0.6
	Labour hold		Swing	8.0

No. 6 (Grange and Oxton)

Grange and Oxton

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Gordon Lindsay	2,564	47.7	14.7
	Conservative	R. Hardy	1,980	36.8	11.8
	Labour	Andrew Davies	833	15.5	2.9
Majority			584	10.9	N/A
Registered electors			13,242
Turnout				40.6	0.7
	Liberal hold		Swing	13.3

No. 7 (Prenton)

Prenton

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	M. Baker	2,993	65.2	0.6
	Labour	F. Naylor	1,597	34.8	7.8
Majority			1,396	30.4	7.2
Registered electors			15,422
Turnout				29.7	3.3
	Conservative hold		Swing	3.6

No. 8 (Upton)

Upton

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	S. Hibbert	3,256	59.9	3.0
	Labour	J. Seaman	2,180	40.1	0.5
Majority			1,076	19.8	3.5
Registered electors			21,661
Turnout				25.1	2.4
	Conservative hold		Swing	1.8

Wallasey

No. 9 (Leasowe)

Leasowe

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Clark	2,004	55.4	5.2
	Conservative	A. Smith	1,481	40.9	0.8
	Liberal	M. Canning	133	3.7	5.1
Majority			523	14.5	4.4
Registered electors			11,982
Turnout				30.2	6.1
	Labour hold		Swing	2.2

No. 10 (Marlowe-Egremont-South Liscard)

Marlowe-Egremont-South-Liscard

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	S. Morgan	2,404	59.6	4.7
	Labour	G. Watkins	1,379	34.2	4.8
	Liberal	S. Pollit	253	6.3	9.4
Majority			1,025	25.4	0.1
Registered electors			12,770
Turnout				31.6	2.9
	Conservative hold		Swing	0.1

No. 11 (Moreton and Saughall Massie)

Moreton and Saughall Massie

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	L. Young	1,596	53.3	0.5
	Labour	Jim Edwards	1,273	42.5	5.6
	Liberal	J. Jenkins	124	4.1	2.0
Majority			323	10.8	6.1
Registered electors			8,168
Turnout				36.6	5.7
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	3.1

No. 12 (New Brighton-Wallasey-Warren)

New Brighton-Wallasey-Warren

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	D. Moir	4,176	63.7	10.6
	Liberal	N. Thomas	1,856	28.3	9.6
	Labour	W. Edwards	525	8.0	1.0
Majority			2,320	35.4	20.2
Registered electors			14,454
Turnout				45.4	0.6
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing	10.1

No. 13 (North Liscard-Upper Brighton Street)

North Liscard-Upper Brighton Street

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Jack Redhead	2,651	75.5	16.8
	Labour	B. Lloyd	591	16.8	0.6
	Liberal	J. Barton	270	7.7	17.3
Majority			2,060	58.7	25.0
Registered electors			11,546
Turnout				30.4	3.2
	Conservative hold		Swing	12.5

No. 14 (Seacombe-Poulton-Somerville)

Seacombe-Poulton-Somerville

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Phoebe Bentzien	2,187	58.0	0.4
	Conservative	M. Kemble	1,248	33.1	3.1
	Liberal	P. Mawdsley	143	3.8	1.7
	National Front	John Fishwick	131	3.5	New
	Communist	R. Harris	59	1.6	New
Majority			939	24.9	2.7
Registered electors			11,223
Turnout				33.6	0.2
	Labour hold		Swing	1.4

Bebington

No. 15 (Higher Bebington and Woodhey)

Higher Bebington and Woodhey

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Frank Theaker	3,285	71.2	4.7
	Labour	Audrey Moore	921	20.0	4.1
	Liberal	Penelope Globy	410	8.9	New
Majority			2,364	51.2	0.6
Registered electors			10,181
Turnout				45.3	4.2
	Conservative hold		Swing	0.3

No. 16 (Park-New Ferry-North Bromborough)

Park-New Ferry-North Bromborough

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	S. Price	2,082	52.2	4.8
	Conservative	T. Stacey	1,905	47.8	4.0
Majority			177	4.4	0.8
Registered electors			9,828
Turnout				40.6	2.3
	Labour hold		Swing	0.4

No. 17 (South Bromborough and Eastham)

South Bromborough and Eastham

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Phillip Gilchrist	3,729	58.1	20.1
	Conservative	B. Davies	1,749	27.3	8.7
	Labour	R. Dunning	940	14.6	11.4
Majority			1,980	30.8	N/A
Registered electors			13,985
Turnout				45.9	2.0
	Liberal gain from Labour		Swing	14.4

No. 18 (Lower Bebington and Poulton)

Lower Bebington and Poulton

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	J. Zowe	3,630	65.3	5.8
	Labour	R. Woods	1,015	18.2	0.5
	Liberal	Thomas Harney	918	16.5	6.3
Majority			2,615	47.1	5.3
Registered electors			14,163
Turnout				39.3	6.5
	Conservative hold		Swing	2.7

Hoylake

No. 19 (Caldy and Frankby)

Caldy and Frankby

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	W. Lloyd	3,523	74.5	2.2
	Liberal	B. Crosby	562	11.9	5.0
	Labour	John McCabe	454	9.6	1.2
	Independent	J. Ellison	191	4.0	New
Majority			2,961	62.6	7.2
Registered electors			13,589
Turnout				34.8	3.4
	Conservative hold		Swing	3.6

No. 20 (Central-Hoose-Meols-Park)

Central-Hoose-Meols-Park

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Whitehurst	4,051	86.0	16.2
	Labour	David Jackson	660	14.0	7.2
Majority			3,391	72.0	25.6
Registered electors			12,150
Turnout				38.8	5.5
	Conservative hold		Swing	12.8

Wirral

No. 21 (Barnston-Gayton-Heswall-Oldfield)

Barnston-Gayton-Heswall-Oldfield

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	P. Wilson	3,859	91.1	5.8
	Labour	P. Wallace	375	8.9	4.5
Majority			3,484	82.2	7.2
Registered electors			11,581
Turnout				36.6	6.8
	Conservative hold		Swing	3.6

No. 22 (Irby-Pensby-Thurstaston)

Irby-Pensby-Thurstaston

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	David Fletcher	2,514	79.2	14.1
	Labour	H. Ellis-Thomas	661	20.8	2.9
Majority			1,853	58.4	11.2
Registered electors			10,048
Turnout				31.6	6.7
	Conservative hold		Swing	5.6

Notes

• italics denote the sitting councillor • bold denotes the winning candidate

1. % of total refers to % of wards won.
2. Elected to serve a 4-year term.
3. Elected to serve a 2-year term.

References

1. ^ "Local Election Summaries 1978". The Elections Centre. Retrieved 25 November 2018.
2. ^ "Metropolitan Borough of Wirral Election Results 1973-2012 (Pg. 3 and 4)" (PDF). The Elections Centre. Retrieved 25 November 2018.
3. "Council compositions". The Elections Centre. Retrieved 27 July 2018.
4. "Councillor Walter Smith". Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council. Archived from the original on 12 June 2018. Retrieved 25 November 2018.
5. "Councillor Phil Gilchrist". Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council.
6. "Councillor Tom Harney". Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council.

Mellows-Facer, Adam (10 May 2006). "Local election 2006". parliament.uk. Retrieved 29 December 2018.
"BBC NEWS VOTE 2003 WIRRAL". BBC News. 1 May 2003. Retrieved 29 December 2018.

v t e (1977 ←) 1978 United Kingdom local elections (→ 1979)
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See also: Wards Boundary changes

• 1978 English local elections
• Council elections in Wirral
• 1970s in Merseyside