1981 West Midlands County Council election

1981 UK local government election July 2015 July 2015 1981 West Midlands County Council election Flag of the West Midlands County.svg Parliamentary no yes 1977 West Midlands County Council election 1977 Abolished 104 seats to the West Midlands County Council 52 7 May 1981 36.6% () Labour Party (UK) 18 seats, 31.3 74 56 50.0% 18.7% Conservative Party (UK) 82 seats, 58.7% 25 57 36.7% 22.0% Liberal Party (UK) 3 seats, 4.3% 5 2 9.8% 5.5% West Midlands County Council election 1981.svg 400px Map showing the results of the 1981 West Midlands County Council election by electoral division. Council control Council control after election Conservative Labour Local elections to the West Midlands County Council, a Metropolitan County Council encompassing the West Midlands, were held on 7 May 1981, resulting in large swings to Labour, giving them control of the council. This was the last election to the West Midlands County Council, after metropolitan county councils were scrapped on 31 March 1986 under the Local Government Act 1985 by the Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher. The councils' abolition followed several high profile clashes between mostly Labour metropolitan county councils and the Conservative government over issues including spending and rates charges. Results West Midlands County Council election, 1981p.2-3 Labour Party (UK) 74 50.0 18.7 Conservative Party (UK) 25 36.7 22.0 Liberal Party (UK) 5 9.8 5.5 Independent (politician) 0 0.5 0.1 Green Party (UK) 0 0.4 0.3 Other parties 0 2.5 2.5 Council composition After the election the composition of the council was: + ↓ 74 25 5 Labour Conservative Liberal Borough summary Results of the West Midlands County Council election, 1981by Metropolitan Borough yes |- class="unsortable" align="centre" !rowspan=2 align="left"|Borough ! % !Cllrs ! % !Cllrs ! % !Cllrs ! % !Cllrs ! % !Cllrs ! % !Cllrs !rowspan=2|TotalCllrs |- class="unsortable" align="center" !colspan=2 bgcolor="Labour Party (UK)" | Labour !colspan=2 bgcolor="Conservative and Unionist Party (UK)"| Conservative !colspan=2 bgcolor="Liberal Party (UK)" | Liberal !colspan=2 bgcolor="Green Party (UK)" | Green !colspan=2 bgcolor="white"| Independent !colspan=2 bgcolor="white"| Others |- |align="left"|Birmingham |bgcolor="#EEA2AD"|49.7 |bgcolor="#EEA2AD"|30 |35.0 |9 |12.4 |3 |0.8 |0 |0.1 |0 |2.0 |0 |42 |- |align="left"|Coventry |bgcolor="#EEA2AD"|49.3 |bgcolor="#EEA2AD"|9 |37.1 |3 |12.3 |0 |0.0 |0 |0.0 |0 |1.4 |0 |12 |- |align="left"|Dudley |bgcolor="#EEA2AD"|57.2 |bgcolor="#EEA2AD"|9 |40.2 |2 |1.7 |0 |0.7 |0 |0.0 |0 |0.2 |0 |11 |- |align="left"|Sandwell |bgcolor="#EEA2AD"|60.5 |bgcolor="#EEA2AD"|9 |28.9 |1 |9.9 |2 |0.0 |0 |0.0 |0 |0.7 |0 |12 |- |align="left"|Solihull |31.8 |2 |bgcolor="lightblue"|46.1 |bgcolor="lightblue"|5 |12.6 |0 |0.5 |0 |0.0 |0 |9.0 |0 |7 |- |align="left"|Walsall |bgcolor="#EEA2AD"|44.1 |bgcolor="#EEA2AD"|7 |35.0 |3 |10.3 |0 |0.0 |0 |3.8 |0 |6.8 |0 |10 |- |align="left"|Wolverhampton |bgcolor="#EEA2AD"|53.0 |bgcolor="#EEA2AD"|8 |42.1 |2 |3.4 |0 |0.0 |0 |0.7 |0 |0.9 |0 |8 |- class="unsortable" class="sortbottom" style="background:#C9C9C9" |align="left"| Total |50.0 |74 |36.7 |25 |9.8 |5 |0.5 |0 |0.4 |0 |2.5 |0 |104 |- |} thumb|Party receiving the most votes by Metropolitan Borough References West Midlands 1981