1980 Welwyn Hatfield District Council election

The 1980 Welwyn Hatfield District Council election took place on 1 May 1980 to elect members of Welwyn Hatfield District Council in England. This was on the same day as other local elections. A third of the council's seats were up for election. Similar to the general trend of the local elections, Labour saw an increase in their share of the vote almost entirely at the expensive of the Conservatives. From this, Labour managed to increase their (previously razor-edge) majority control of the council. This marked the first election in Welwyn Hatfield's local elections that an independent candidate stood for a seat. They came third in the Welwyn South ward, below the Conservatives and Labour but beating the Liberals.

1980 Welwyn Hatfield District Council election

1 May 1980 (1980-05-01)
14 out of 43 seats to Welwyn Hatfield District Council 22 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	34,450, 50.7%
First party Second party Third party   Party Labour Conservative Liberal Last election 22 seats, 45.0% 21 seats, 51.3% 0 seats, 3.6% Seats before 22 21 0 Seats after 25 18 0 Seat change 3 3 Popular vote 18,076 15,227 972 Percentage 52.5% 44.2% 2.8% Swing 7.5 7.1 0.8
Council composition following the election.

Summary

Election result

1980 Welwyn Hatfield District Council election
Party		This election			Full council			This election
		Seats	Net	Seats %	Other	Total	Total %	Votes	Votes %	+/−
	Labour	9	3	64.3	16	25	58.1	18,076	52.5	+7.5
	Conservative	5	3	35.7	13	18	41.9	15,227	44.2	–7.1
	Liberal	0		0.0	0	0	0.0	972	2.8	–0.8
	Independent	0		0.0	0	0	0.0	175	0.5	N/A