1980 City of Edinburgh District Council election

1980 City of Edinburgh Council election

1 May 1980 (1980-05-01)
All 62 seats to Edinburgh City Council 32 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Party Conservative Labour Liberal Last election 34 23 1 Seats won 31 25 2 Seat change 3 2 1 Popular vote 64,152 58,411 18,230 Percentage 40.2% 36.6% 11.4% Swing 4.6% 10.0% 3.5%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Party SNP Independent Independent Labour Last election 5 1 0 Seats won 2 1 1 Seat change 3 0 1 Popular vote 14,960 2,157 1,118 Percentage 9.4% 1.4% 0.7% Swing 9.9% 0.4% 0.6%
Map of council wards
Council control before election Conservative Council control after election No overall control

Elections for the City of Edinburgh District Council took place on 1 May 1980, alongside elections to the councils of Scotland's various other districts. The Conservatives, who had previously controlled a majority on the council, were reduced to being just shy of a majority. The Conservatives continued to rule the council however, with Liberal support.

The election saw 4 new wards being added to Edinburgh; Fort, Shandon, Haymarket, and Tollcross. All, minus Tollcross, (which was won by the Conservatives) were won by Labour.

Turnout was 160,330.

Aggregate results

City of Edinburgh District Council election, 1980

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Conservative	31	2	2	0	50.0	40.2	64,152	4.6
	Labour	25	7	3	4	40.3	36.6	58,411	10.0
	Liberal	2	2	0	2	3.2	11.4	18,230	3.5
	SNP	2	0	3	3	3.2	9.4	14,960	9.9
	Independent	1	0	0	0	1.6	1.4	2,157	0.4
	Independent Labour	1	1	0	1	1.6	0.7	1,118	0.6
	Scottish Ecology	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.4	576	New
	Communist	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.04	65	0.1

Ward Results

1st, Queensferry

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	J. Milne	1,431	65.8
	Labour	W. Nelson	745	34.2
Majority			686	31.6
Turnout			2,176
	Independent hold

2nd, Kirkliston

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	SNP	D. Williams	1,088	45.1
	Conservative	G. Brown	668	27.7
	Labour	G. Grieve	657	27.2
Majority			420	17.4
Turnout			2,413
	SNP hold

3rd, Balerno

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	R. Powell	1,513	51.8
	SNP	Mary Stein	723	24.7
	Labour	D. Lindsay	687	23.5
Majority			723	27.1
Turnout			2,923
	Conservative hold

4th, Baberton

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Elizabeth Roberson	1,573	47.0
	Liberal	J. McCreesh	716	21.4
	SNP	Shona Cole	582	17.4
	Labour	D. Anderson	473	14.1
Majority			857	25.6
Turnout			3,344
	Conservative hold

40th, Tollcross (New Seat)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	K. Alexander	887
	Labour	S. Gilmore	727
	Liberal	A. Hajducki	290
	SNP	J. Mitchell	188
	Scottish Ecology	S. Whitaker	127
Majority			160
Turnout
	Conservative win (new seat)

42nd, Holyrood

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	R. Kerle	1,105
	Independent	G. Forbes	613
	Conservative	B. Monteith	300
	SNP	C. Cunningham	207
	Communist	Carol Downes	19
Majority			492
Turnout
	Labour hold

53rd, Colinton

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	J. D. Maclennan	2,693	88.5
	Labour	E. Fallon	350	11.5
Majority			2,343	77.0
Turnout			3,043
	Conservative hold

56th, Fairmilehead

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	B. Meek	2,343	69.5
	Liberal	M. Dougall	776	23.0
	Labour	I. Christie	252	7.5
Majority			1,567	46.5
Turnout			3,371
	Conservative hold