1973 Portsmouth City Council election

The 1973 Portsmouth City Council election was held on 10 May 1973 as part of the first elections to the new local authorities established by the Local Government Act 1972 in England and Wales. 48 councillors were elected from 16 electoral divisions. Each division returned three councillors each by first-past-the-post voting for a three-year term of office.

The Conservative Party won overall control of the council.

Election results

Portsmouth City Council election, 1973
Party		Seats	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	Candidates
	Conservative	28	58.3%	49.8%	76,844	48
	Labour	17	35.4%	44.7%	68,974	48
	Independent	3	6.3%	2.9%	4,462	3
	Liberal	0	0	2.6%	4,071	4

Ward results

Buckland

Buckland (3)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Syd Rapson	1,842	52.0%
	Labour	J. Wearn	1,734
	Conservative	R. Taylor	1,697	48.0%
	Conservative	Ms V. Lubin	1,691
	Labour	I. Christie	1,642
	Conservative	B. Lewington	1,622
Turnout				47.4%
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

Cosham

Cosham (3)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	P. Ashley	1,942	48.9%
	Independent	Ms. M. Anderson	1,347
	Independent	W. Dallas	1,173
	Conservative	E. Spencer	1,061	26.7%
	Labour	K. Sparrow	966	24.3%
	Conservative	E. Burke	925
	Labour	G. Crowhurst	907
	Labour	G. Thompson	869
	Conservative	R. Darragh	849
Turnout				43.5%
	Independent win (new seat)
	Independent win (new seat)
	Independent win (new seat)

Farlington

Farlington (3)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	I. Gibson	2,556	53.4%
	Conservative	W. Fry	2,485
	Conservative	R. Ostler	2,267
	Liberal	Ms. B. Shepherd	1,533	32.0%
	Labour	R. Bryant	695	14.5%
	Labour	J. Smith	673
	Labour	D. Ingham	673
Turnout				45.4%
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

Fratton

Fratton (3)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Mike Hancock	1,544	63.4%
	Labour	A. Gibbs	1,504
	Labour	J. James	1,393
	Conservative	Ms. H. Austin	893	36.6%
	Conservative	A. Hasker	855
	Conservative	K. Jordan	826
Turnout				31.6%
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)

Havelock

Havelock (3)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	C. Johnstone	2,175	50.5%
	Conservative	E. Taplin	2,134	49.5%
	Conservative	T. Gregory	2,092
	Labour	Ms. M. Kenny	2,046
	Conservative	B. Pickering	2,042
	Labour	D. Brown	1,985
Turnout				46.9%
	Labour win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

Highland

Highland (3)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	C. Wakefield	2,301	53.9%
	Conservative	A. Elliot	2,247
	Conservative	J. Lodge	2,177
	Labour	B. Miller	1,965	46.1%
	Labour	Mrs. E. Wright	1,820
	Labour	G. Lemon	1,790
Turnout				41.9%
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

Kingston

Kingston (3)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	R. Hancock	2,544	51.5%
	Conservative	J. Brogden	2,527
	Labour	P. Chandler	2,399	48.5%
	Conservative	E. Loney-Hampton	2,385
	Labour	S. Mitchell	2,299
	Labour	Ms. J. Sharma	2,222
Turnout				46.6%
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)

Meredith

Meredith (3)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	A. Darby	2,374	55.8%
	Conservative	J. Rigby	2,372
	Conservative	F. Sorrell	2,288
	Labour	W. Stillwell	1,882	44.2%
	Labour	P. Kingswell	1,723
	Labour	C. Arrowsmith	1,659
Turnout				38.3%
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

Nelson

Nelson (3)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	J. Marshall	2,058	55.7%
	Conservative	A. Mos	1,753
	Labour	P. Hancock	1,635	44.3%
	Conservative	C. Fortnum	1,604
	Labour	J. Attrill	1,334
	Labour	A. Golds	1,287
Turnout				54.6%
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)

North End

Nelson (3)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	A. Dann	2,131	53.8%
	Conservative	K. Hale	2,115
	Conservative	Ms. A. Tomlin	2,093
	Labour	B. Tyler	1,829	46.2%
	Labour	Ms. J. Jamieson	1,809
	Labour	J. Patey	1,726
Turnout				40.7%
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

Paulsgrove

Paulsgrove (3)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ms. M. Price	1,533	51.9%
	Labour	G. Austin	1,457
	Labour	J. Mitchell	1,416
	Liberal	R. Schollar	945	32.0%
	Liberal	Ms. I. Young	818
	Liberal	J. Young	775
	Conservative	W. Snelling	478	16.2%
	Conservative	M. Rendle	476
	Conservative	Ms. J. Snelling	475
Turnout				26.1%
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)

Portsea

Portsea (3)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ms. A. Ashworth	1,312	69.3%
	Labour	R. Grant	1,304
	Labour	R. Thomas	1,289
	Conservative	T. Hasker	580	30.7
	Conservative	Mrs. D. Jeram	566
	Conservative	H. Osborne	541
Turnout				34.0
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)

St. Jude

St. Jude (3)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	R. Sotnick	1,571	71.8
	Conservative	J. Lubin	1,495
	Conservative	J. Cockerill	1,483
	Labour	M. Smith	616	28.2
	Labour	F. Guy	601
	Labour	H. Harris	576
Turnout				26.3
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

St. Mary & Guildhall

St. Mary & Guildhall (3)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	E. Kelly	1,354	80.6
	Labour	A. White	1,316
	Labour	Mrs. E. Fudge	1,307
	Conservative	J. Rothery	325	19.4
	Conservative	A. Stanley	209
	Conservative	M. Trett	295
Turnout				30.6
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)
	Labour win (new seat)

St. Simon

St. Simon (3)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	G. Byng	1,733	71.6
	Conservative	Ms. A. Scorey	1,678
	Conservative	A. Spraggs	1,670
	Labour	Ms. J. Christie	688	28.4
	Labour	B. Armer	659
	Labour	D. Elner	649
Turnout				29.9
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

St. Thomas

St. Thomas (3)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	S. Fiddy	2,157	56.2
	Conservative	L. Kitchen	2,049
	Conservative	C. Worley	1,999
	Labour	R. Bromley	1,683	43.8
	Labour	D. Jewell	1,635
	Labour	M. Murphy	1,552
Turnout				37.8
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

References

• 1973 Portsmouth election result