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 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

References

^ "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.
^ ^a ^b Gordon Jackson (14 May 1971). "Labour joy as Tories tumble". South Wales Echo. p. 1.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Labour landslide turns Town Hall tables". South Wales Echo. 14 May 1971. p. 13.
^ "Lady Mayoress loses city council seat to Labour". The Western Mail. 8 May 1970. p. 4.
^ "All the S. Wales results". South Wales Echo. 14 May 1971. p. 13.

[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.

[SWE_Tories_tumble-2] Gordon Jackson (14 May 1971). "Labour joy as Tories tumble". South Wales Echo. p. 1.

[SWE_Labour_landslide-3] "Labour landslide turns Town Hall tables". South Wales Echo. 14 May 1971. p. 13.

[Wmail_8_May-4] "Lady Mayoress loses city council seat to Labour". The Western Mail. 8 May 1970. p. 4.

[SWE_results-5] "All the S. Wales results". South Wales Echo. 14 May 1971. p. 13.

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v t e Council elections in Cardiff
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Cardiff City Council	1973 1976 1979 1983 1987 1991 Abolished
Cardiff County Borough Council	1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 .... 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 Abolished
Cardiff Town Council	.... 1887 1888 Superseded

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