1971 Cardiff City Council election

The 1971 Cardiff City Council election was held on Thursday 13 May 1971 to elect councillors to Cardiff City Council in Cardiff, Glamorgan, Wales. It took place on the same day as several other county borough elections in Wales and England.

The previous elections to this one were in May 1970 and the next elections would be in May 1972. The 1971 election would be the penultimate all-Cardiff election before the dissolution of the unitary authority and the creation of the new second-tier district authority of Cardiff City Council in 1974.

The election saw the Labour Party taking a significant number of seats back from the Conservatives.

Background

Cardiff County Borough Council had been created in 1889. Cardiff became a city in 1905. Elections to the local authority were held annually, though not all council seats were included in each contest, because each of the three councillors in each ward stood down for election in rotation.[1] The councillors elected in 1971 would serve for less than three years, before the dissolution of the present Council in April 1974.

The local government elections took place in the context of an Edward Heath's new Conservative UK government (which had been elected only 11 months previously) and rising prices and unemployment. [2]

Overview of the result

Nineteen seats in 19 electoral wards were up for election in May 1971. In what was described as a "night of disaster for the Conservatives" the Labour Party more than recovered the position they had been in Cardiff prior to the 1967 elections.[2] Labour gained a total of 11 seats, including one in the previous Tory stronghold of Whitchurch.[3] A number of former Cardiff Labour councillors won their seats back, including Eva Davies, Emyr Currie-Jones, Philip Dunleavy, Harold Bartlett and Dengar Evans.[3]

Council composition

Following the May 1970 election the balance on the city council was 57 Conservatives, 18 Labour and one Plaid Cymru.[4] With 11 out of 19 seats changing hands in May 1971, Cardiff Labour chairman Cllr Jack Brooks called for the other two thirds of Cardiff seats to be put up for election, saying it was unfair that the Conservatives should remain in control.[3]

Ward results

Contests took place in every ward at this election.[5]

Adamsdown
Adamsdown ward 1971
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Eva Davies 1,706
Conservative Christopher Matthew Peterson * 663
Liberal Henry Charles Edwards 153
Majority 1,043
Labour gain from Conservative Swing

Canton
Canton ward 1971
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Dengar Robinson Evans 1,807
Conservative Anthea Jean Thomas * 1,294
Liberal Richard Michael James 205
Majority 513
Labour gain from Conservative Swing

Cathays
Cathays ward 1971
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Emyr Currie-Jones 2,730
Conservative Hubert George Nunn * 1,726
Majority 1,004
Labour gain from Conservative Swing

Central
Central ward 1971
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Gordon William Fish 1,563
Conservative William Lawford Gower * 1,118
Majority 445
Labour gain from Conservative Swing

Ely
Ely ward 1971
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Albert William Buttle * 3,376
Conservative Leslie Albert Roderick 770
Plaid Cymru Charles Stephen Craves 598
Majority 2,606
Labour hold Swing

Gabalfa
Gabalfa ward 1971
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Arthur William George Brown 2,290
Conservative Bernard Hugh Rees 1,243
Independent Labour Gertrude Louise Baines 688
Liberal Alan Edward Hiscock 170
Majority 1,047
Labour gain from Conservative Swing

Grangetown
Grangetown ward 1971
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Harold George Bartlett 1,750
Conservative Tim Cronin * 987
Plaid Cymru Peter Staveley McMullen 324
Majority 763
Labour gain from Conservative Swing

Llanishen
Llanishen ward 1971
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Henry Peter Farthing * 2,447
Labour Leslie Bernard Goodrum 2,108
Liberal Olive Mary Langdon 905
Majority 339
Conservative hold Swing

Llandaff
Llandaff ward 1971
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Beti Jones * 2,128
Labour Lionel John James 813
Plaid Cymru Gwen Humphreys 724
Majority 1,315
Conservative hold Swing

Penylan
Penylan ward 1971
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative William Vaughan Barraby 3,674
Labour George Ewart Baylis 1,386
Liberal John Evan Lee 536
Majority 2,288
Conservative hold Swing

Plasmawr
Plasmawr ward 1971
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Albert Arthur Huish 2,909
Plaid Cymru David Eurig Davies 1,329
Conservative Doreen Muriel Norman * 1,032
Majority 1,580
Labour gain from Conservative Swing

Plasnewydd
Plasnewydd ward 1971
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Tony Lewis * 1,554
Labour Michael John Parry 1,429
Plaid Cymru Philip Brian Richards 312
Liberal Elizabeth Davina Forrest 158
Majority 125
Conservative hold Swing

Rhiwbina
Rhiwbina ward 1971
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative William Davies * 2,269
Labour William Michael Walker 1,155
Plaid Cymru Gwynfor Hughes 676
Majority 1,114
Conservative hold Swing

Riverside
Riverside ward 1971
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Joseph Donovan * 1,271
Labour Thomas Clifford Lee 1,019
Plaid Cymru Roy Adam Lee 326
Majority 252
Conservative hold Swing

Roath
Roath ward 1971
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Ian Hermer * 2,257
Labour John Scrivens 945
Majority 1,312
Conservative hold Swing

Rumney
Rumney ward 1971
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour David Myfr Evans 3,895
Conservative Samuel Parker * 1,593
Plaid Cymru Michael Coughlin 433
Majority 2,302
Labour gain from Conservative Swing

South
South ward 1971
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Philip Dunleavy 2,165
Conservative Stefan Terlezki * 1,198
Majority 167
Labour gain from Conservative Swing

Splott
Splott ward 1971
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour John Edward Brooks 2,600
Conservative Robert Edward Glover 1,342
Communist Richard Horatio Spencer 59
Majority 258
Labour gain from Conservative Swing

Whitchurch
Whitchurch ward 1971
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Henry Gordon Howell 2,100
Conservative Victor Riley 2,024
Liberal Alexander Thomas Reeves 316
Plaid Cymru David Gareth Williams 247
Majority 76
Labour gain from Conservative Swing

* = 'retiring' ward councillor for re-election

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See also

References
  1. "All eyes on Whitchutch and Rhiwbina - newcomers hold the key to power". South Wales Echo. 9 May 1967. p. 6. For to bring the election procedure into line with that in the city's other wards, whoever tops the poll in the two new wards goes to City Hall for a full three-year term. The runners-up will serve for two years, while those in third place ...must face the electorate again in 12 months time... In this way the added areas will in future elect one member every year from 1968.
  2. Gordon Jackson (14 May 1971). "Labour joy as Tories tumble". South Wales Echo. p. 1.
  3. "Labour landslide turns Town Hall tables". South Wales Echo. 14 May 1971. p. 13.
  4. "Lady Mayoress loses city council seat to Labour". The Western Mail. 8 May 1970. p. 4.
  5. "All the S. Wales results". South Wales Echo. 14 May 1971. p. 13.
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