Local elections were held in the United Kingdom in 1984. There was a slight reversal in the Conservative government's fortunes, but the party remained ahead. The projected share of the vote was Conservatives 38%, Labour 37%, Liberal-SDP Alliance 21%. Labour gained 88 seats, bringing their number of councillors to 8,870 in the first elections under the leadership of

Neil Kinnock Neil Gordon Kinnock, Baron Kinnock (born 28 March 1942) is a British former politician. As a member of the Labour Party, he served as a Member of Parliament from 1970 until 1995, first for Bedwellty and then for Islwyn. He was the Leader of ...

who had succeeded

Michael Foot Michael Mackintosh Foot (23 July 19133 March 2010) was a British Labour Party politician who served as Labour Leader from 1980 to 1983. Foot began his career as a journalist on ''Tribune'' and the ''Evening Standard''. He co-wrote the 1940 p ...

the previous autumn. The Conservatives lost 164 seats, leaving them with 10,393 councillors. The SDP-Liberal Alliance, now led by

David Owen David Anthony Llewellyn Owen, Baron Owen, (born 2 July 1938) is a British politician and physician who served as Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs as a Labour Party (UK), Labour Party MP under James Callaghan from 1977 t ...

, gained 160 seats and finished with 2,331 councillors. Three parliamentary by-elections were also held on the same day in the

Cynon Valley Cynon Valley () is a former coal mining valley in Wales. Cynon Valley lies between Rhondda and the Merthyr Valley and takes its name from the River Cynon. Aberdare is located in the north of the valley and Mountain Ash is in the south of t ...

Stafford Stafford () is a market town and the county town of Staffordshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It lies about north of Wolverhampton, south of Stoke-on-Trent and northwest of Birmingham. The town had a population of 70,145 in t ...

and

South West Surrey South West Surrey is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. Since 2005, the seat has been represented by Conservative MP Jeremy Hunt, the current chancellor of the Exchequer and the former Culture Secretar ...

constituencies. Labour held Cynon Valley, and the Conservatives held Stafford and South West Surrey.

Summary of results

England

Metropolitan boroughs

All 36 metropolitan borough councils had one third of their seats up for election.

District councils

In 123 districts one third of the council was up for election. A further 20 councils had passed a resolution under section 7 (4) (b) of the

Local Government Act 1972 The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant Acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Gov ...

, requesting a system of elections by thirds. They could do so because they had had their new ward boundaries introduced at the 1983 elections.

Scotland

District councils

References

Local elections 2006. House of Commons Library Research Paper 06/26.Vote 1999 BBC NewsVote 2000 BBC News
{{United Kingdom elections May 1984 events in the United Kingdom