1983 Bracknell District Council election

1983 Bracknell District Council election

← 1979 5 May 1983 (1983-05-05) 1987 →
All 40 seats to Bracknell District Council 21 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party   Con All Leader David Tubbs (outgoing)[1] N/A Party Conservative Alliance Leader's seat Great Hollands South N/A Last election 27 0 Seats won 40 0 Seat change 13 0 Popular vote 14,494 6,909 Percentage 51.3% 24.4% Swing 1.9% 14.5%   Third party Fourth party   Lab Ind Leader Denis Tunnicliffe Party Labour Independent Leader's seat Ran in Hanworth (lost) Last election 10 3 Seats won 0 0 Seat change 10 3 Popular vote 6,466 407 Percentage 22.9% 1.4% Swing 15.5% 0.9%
Council control before election Conservative Council control after election Conservative

The 1983 Bracknell District Council election took place on 5 May 1983, to elect all 40 members in 19 wards for Bracknell Forest Borough Council in England. The election was held on the same day as other local elections as part of the 1983 United Kingdom local elections. The Conservative Party won a third term in office, securing an electoral wipeout of the opposition parties by winning all 40 seats, a feat it would repeat in 1987.^[2]

The local Labour Party was riven by internal disputes, cultivated since the last election by the national split and the creation of the Social Democratic Party. In late 1981, Labour group leader Jack Delbridge and other Labour local luminaries, including former council leader Bill Lindop, defected to the SDP, claiming left-wing militants controlled the local Labour party and the relationship was untenable.^[3] Of the 10 Labour councillors elected in 1979, 6 would stand for election under the SDP–Liberal Alliance banner, 3 would not stand for re-election, while only Denis Tunnicliffe stood again, leading the rump Labour group - symbolic of the split was his wife standing for the Alliance in Great Hollands South.^[4]