The incumbent Mayor, John Burke, stood for a second term and was successful. He was re-elected by a comfortable margin over councillor Charles Hudson. Hudson was supported by an independent grouping campaigning for a "new deal" consisting of councillors Margaret Brown, Tom Janes and Eric McKenzie. The trio had left the Labour Party earlier in the year after a period of infighting from policy disagreements and set up their own ticket for the election. Labour won a working majority on the council while the new deal trio all failed to win re-election.[1]
