1975 Sunderland Metropolitan Borough Council election

The 1975 Sunderland Metropolitan Borough Council election was held on 1 May 1975. A third of the seats on the Council were up for election, with each of the 26 council wards returning one councillor by first-past-the-post. The election was held on the same day as other local elections.

1975 Sunderland Metropolitan Borough Council election

1 May 1975
One third of 78 seats on Sunderland Metropolitan Borough Council 40 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Party Labour Conservative Liberal Seats before 56 21 0 Seats won 15 9 1 Seats after 52 23 1 Seat change 4 2 1   Fourth party Fifth party   Party Ind. Labour Party Independent Seats before 0 1 Seats won 1 0 Seats after 1 1 Seat change 1
Majority party before election Labour Majority party after election Labour

Background

The new Sunderland Metropolitan Borough Council had been formed following the Local Government Act 1972 - all councillors on the new council were elected in an all-up election in 1973. The order in which the councillors were elected in the 1973 election dictated their term serving, with third-place candidates in each ward serving two years and up for re-election in 1975. Labour had come out of the 1973 elections with a clear majority ahead of the Conservatives.

Election results

Labour maintained a comfortable majority on the Council after the election, despite losing four seats. The Conservatives gained seats from Labour in Deptford and Pallion ward and Humbledon ward, whilst the Liberals took a seat from Labour in Houghton-le-Spring. An Independent Labour Party candidate took a seat from Labour in Silksworth.

Sunderland Metropolitan Borough Council election results, 1975

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Labour	15	0	4	4	57.7	38.8	22,066	12.8
	Conservative	9	2	0	2	34.6	35.4	20,166	0.7
	Liberal	1	1	0	1	3.8	19.3	10,995	12.4
	All Sunderland District Action Group	0	0	0		0	3.4	1,925	3.4
	Ind. Labour Party	1	1	0	1	3.8	2.8	1,593	1.3
	Communist	0	0	0		0	0.2	123	0.1
	Independent	0	0	0		0	0.1	42	1.2

The election resulted in the following composition of the Council:

Party		Council
	Labour	52
	Conservatives	23
	Liberal	1
	Independent Labour	1
	Independent	1
Total		78
Working majority		26