1973 Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council election

Map of the results for the 1973 Wigan council election. Labour in red, Conservatives in blue and Independent in grey.

The 1973 Wigan Council elections for the First Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council were held on 10 May 1973, with the entirety of the 72 seat council - three seats for each of the 24 wards - up for vote. It was the first council election as the newly formed metropolitan borough under a new constitution. The Local Government Act 1972 stipulated that the elected members were to shadow and eventually take over from the predecessor corporation on 1 April 1974. The order in which the councillors were elected dictated their term serving, with third-place candidates serving two years and up for re-election in 1975, second-placed three years expiring in 1976 and 1st-placed five years until 1978.

Labour won an overwhelming majority of sixty six seats to the Conservative's five and one Independent. Nine seats - for wards 13, 17 and 21 collectively - went unopposed and overall turnout was 34.5%.

Election result

Wigan Council Election Result 1973

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Labour	66	0	0	0	91.7	60.5	40,000	N/A
	Conservative	5	0	0	0	6.9	28.4	18,793	N/A
	Independent	1	0	0	0	1.4	8.1	5,363	N/A
	Independent Labour	0	0	0	0	0.0	1.4	942	N/A
	Own Occ.	0	0	0	0	0.0	1.3	862	N/A
	Communist	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.2	141	N/A

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

Party		New council
	Labour	66
	Conservatives	5
	Independent	1
Total		72
Working majority		60

Ward results

Ward 1 (Lindsay-Scholes-Whelley)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	F. Connolly	2,570	73.6	N/A
	Labour	A. Coyle	2,568
	Labour	M. Pratt	2,381
	Conservative	C. Giles	921	26.4	N/A
	Conservative	R. Stockley	775
	Conservative	J. Lawson	732
Majority			1,460	47.2	N/A
Turnout			3,491	38.6	N/A
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)

Ward 2 (Poolstock-Worsley Mesnes)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	W. Brogan	2,149	81.6	N/A
	Labour	H. Milligan	1,898
	Labour	S. Townley	1,873
	Conservative	P. Harrison	485	18.4	N/A
Majority			1,664	63.2	N/A
Turnout			2,634	27.5	N/A
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)

Ward 3 (Gidlow-Swinley-Whitley)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	H. Dowling	2,765	59.7	N/A
	Conservative	G. Lewthwaite	2,687
	Conservative	W. Somers	2,686
	Labour	E. Maloney	1,867	40.3	N/A
	Labour	R. Baker	1,840
	Labour	H. Barker	1,820
Majority			898	19.4	N/A
Turnout			4,632	39.4	N/A
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

Ward 4 (Beech Hill and Marsh Green)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	J. Presst	2,393	80.5	N/A
	Labour	E. Naylor	2,380
	Labour	J. Eckersley	2,373
	Conservative	W. France	580	19.5	N/A
Majority			1,813	61.0	N/A
Turnout			2,973	31.5	N/A
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)

Ward 5 (Highfield and Lamberhead)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	G. Barlow	1,982	68.1	N/A
	Labour	E. Maddocks	1,961
	Labour	J. Smith	1,848
	Conservative	J. Gaskell	930	31.9	N/A
	Conservative	L. Low	817
	Conservative	C. Boyle	706
Majority			1,052	36.1	N/A
Turnout			2,912	30.6	N/A
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)

Ward 6 (Newtown and Rose Hill)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	A. Peet	1,806	81.6	N/A
	Labour	J. Bridge	1,710
	Labour	M. Mulligan	1,662
	Conservative	J. Whittle	407	18.4	N/A
Majority			1,399	63.2	N/A
Turnout			2,213	25.3	N/A
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)

Ward 7 (Hope Carr)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	A. Roberts	1,444	56.6	N/A
	Labour	T. Hourigan	1,423
	Labour	J. Jones	1,322
	Conservative	J. Sinai	1,108	43.4	N/A
	Conservative	R. Goodwin	1,085
	Conservative	D. Angell	1,011
Majority			336	13.2	N/A
Turnout			2,552	36.6	N/A
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)

Ward 8 (St Pauls and St Peters)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	G. Macdonald	1,387	74.5	N/A
	Labour	P. Hull	1,368
	Labour	G. Bridge	1,259
	Conservative	M. Price	333	17.9	N/A
	Conservative	R. Boardman	324
	Conservative	D. Blyth	267
	Communist	J. Blackburn	141	7.6	N/A
Majority			1,054	56.6	N/A
Turnout			1,861	21.8	N/A
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)

Ward 9 (Etherstone and St Marys)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	E. Moore	1,538	60.7	N/A
	Labour	J. Riley	1,522
	Labour	W. Derbyshire	1,455
	Conservative	M. Howcroft	994	39.3	N/A
	Conservative	S. Simm	972
	Conservative	S. Johnson	905
Majority			544	21.5	N/A
Turnout			2,532	27.0	N/A
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)

Ward 10 (Lilford-St Josephs-St Thomas)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	H. Smith	1,727	53.2	N/A
	Labour	J. Murray	1,714
	Labour	J. Prytharch	1,594
	Conservative	M. Wood	1,518	46.8	N/A
	Conservative	H. Yates	1,477
	Conservative	K. Price	1,459
Majority			209	6.4	N/A
Turnout			3,245	35.8	N/A
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)

Ward 11 (Golborne St Thomas and Lowton)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	N. Holt	2,918	73.7	N/A
	Labour	T. Morgan	2,852
	Labour	E. Roberts	2,826
	Conservative	T. Thompson	1,040	26.3	N/A
	Conservative	D. Fryer	979
	Conservative	W. Kearns	968
Majority			1,878	47.4	N/A
Turnout			3,958	39.4	N/A
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)

Ward 12 (Golborne Heath Park and Ashton)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	J. Hilton	2,272	74.2	N/A
	Labour	E. Houghton	2,183
	Labour	A. Miller	2,104
	Independent	B. Doubledam	788	25.8	N/A
Majority			1,484	48.5	N/A
Turnout			3,060	34.8	N/A
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)

Ward 13 (Ashton-in-Makerfield North and West)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	G. Lockett	Unopposed	N/A	N/A
	Labour	R. Lyons	Unopposed	N/A	N/A
	Labour	A. Heckles	Unopposed	N/A	N/A
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)

Ward 14 (Ashton-in-Makerfield Central and East)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	S. Lea	1,561	70.3	N/A
	Labour	T. Jones	1,492
	Labour	G. Fairhurst	1,475
	Conservative	C. Kinrade	658	29.7	N/A
Majority			903	40.7	N/A
Turnout			2,219	27.8	N/A
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)

Ward 15 (Standish with Langtree and Shevington)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	G. Meadows	1,780	33.3	N/A
	Labour	J. Healey	1,674
	Independent	G. Dewhurst	1,553	29.1	N/A
	Labour	E. Garner	1,503
	Conservative	B. Maccarthy	1,067	20.0	N/A
	Conservative	F. Wareing	1,038
	Independent Labour	I. Cropper	942	17.6	N/A
Majority			227	4.2	N/A
Turnout			5,342	50.9	N/A
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)
	Independent win (new seat)

Ward 16 (Aspull)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	A. Singer	2,526	64.6	N/A
	Labour	W. Mason	2,452
	Labour	H. Lowe	2,397
	Conservative	J. Blackledge	1,387	35.4	N/A
	Conservative	D. Pardey	1,381
	Conservative	A. Turner	1,189
Majority			1,139	29.1	N/A
Turnout			3,913	39.1	N/A
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)

Ward 17 (Atherton North East)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	L. Sumner	Unopposed	N/A	N/A
	Labour	J. Clarke	Unopposed	N/A	N/A
	Labour	D. Skitt	Unopposed	N/A	N/A
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)

Ward 18 (Atherton South West)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	J. Sumner	1,230	46.8	N/A
	Conservative	M. Williams	1,000	38.0	N/A
	Labour	G. Horrabin	920
	Conservative	H. Sharland	919
	Labour	L. Seddon	880
	Conservative	E. Sweeney	827
	Independent	V. France	400	15.2	N/A
Majority			230	8.7	N/A
Turnout			2,630	39.8	N/A
	Labour win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)

Ward 19 (Hindley Central and North)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	C. Priestley	2,022	76.0	N/A
	Labour	T. Isherwood	2,011
	Labour	A. Robinson	1,895
	Conservative	K. Dempsey	637	24.0	N/A
Majority			1,385	52.1	N/A
Turnout			2,659	33.5	N/A
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)

Ward 20 (Hindley South East and West)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	G. Harrison	1,834	63.5	N/A
	Labour	B. McAllister	1,749
	Labour	S. Hardy	1,712
	Conservative	J. Culshaw	1,053	36.5	N/A
Majority			781	27.1	N/A
Turnout			2,887	29.2	N/A
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)

Ward 21 (Ince-in-Makerfield)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	R. Taylor	Unopposed	N/A	N/A
	Labour	A. Rowlandson	Unopposed	N/A	N/A
	Labour	A. Banks	Unopposed	N/A	N/A
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)

Ward 22 (Orrell and Billinge)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	J. Whittle	2,155	38.1	N/A
	Labour	S. Waring	1,931
	Conservative	J. Simpkin	1,910	33.8	N/A
	Labour	L. Grime	1,818
	Conservative	F. Fairbairn	1,705
	Independent	A. Atherton	1,587	28.1	N/A
Majority			245	4.3	N/A
Turnout			5,652	44.6	N/A
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

Ward 23 (Tyldesley - Shakerley)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	S. Little	1,616	70.8	N/A
	Labour	M. Devlin	1,559
	Labour	A. Wright	1,509
	Independent	J. Barnes	666	29.2	N/A
Majority			950	41.6	N/A
Turnout			2,282	28.6	N/A
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)

Ward 24 (Tyldesley - Astley Green and Blackmoor)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	R. Rawson	1,223	49.8	N/A
	Labour	F. Walker	1,219
	Labour	F. Hampson	1,151
	Own Occ.	F. Valentine	862	35.1	N/A
	Own Occ.	H. Pawsey	853
	Own Occ.	E. Myers	742
	Independent	J. Parry	369	15.0	N/A
Majority			361	14.7	N/A
Turnout			2,454	34.3	N/A
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)