The 1998 Tamworth Council election took place on 7 May 1998 to elect members of Tamworth

Tamworth

Tamworth is a town and local government district in Staffordshire, England, located north-east of Birmingham city centre and north-west of London. The town takes its name from the River Tame, which flows through the town, as does the River Anker...

 District

Non-metropolitan district

Non-metropolitan districts, or colloquially shire districts, are a type of local government district in England. As created, they are sub-divisions of non-metropolitan counties in a so-called "two-tier" arrangement...

 Council in Staffordshire

Staffordshire

Staffordshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. Part of the National Forest lies within its borders...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. One third of the council was up for election and the Labour party

Labour Party (UK)

The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...

 stayed in overall control of the council.

After the election, the composition of the council was

• Labour
  Labour Party (UK)
  The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
  
   28
• Conservative
  Conservative Party (UK)
  The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
  
   1
• Independent
  Independent (politician)
  In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...
  
   1

Background

Before the election Labour controlled the council with 25 seats, compared to 2 Conservatives

Conservative Party (UK)

The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...

, 2 Socialist Labour Party

Socialist Labour Party (UK)

The Socialist Labour Party is a far left socialist political party in the United Kingdom. The party is led by former trade union leader Arthur Scargill, who established it in 1996 as a breakaway from the Labour Party...

 and 1 independent

Independent (politician)

In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...

. In the lead up to the election 2 former independents had formed the Conservative group on the council, while 2 Labour councillor

Councillor

A councillor or councilor is a member of a local government council, such as a city council.Often in the United States, the title is councilman or councilwoman.-United Kingdom:...

s defected to the Socialist Labour Party.

10 seats were contested in the election with both the Labour and Conservative parties contesting every seat, while the Liberal Democrats stood in 5 seats. The Conservatives were hoping to double their seats on the council to 4 on the back of disappointment with the national Labour government. However Labour believed voters would back them as they said the council was providing good services.

Election result

The results saw Labour win all 10 seats contested to hold 28 of the 30 seats on the council. Labour held the 7 seats they had been defending, gained a seat from the Conservatives in Stonydelph

Stonydelph

Stonydelph is a neighbourhood about south east of the centre of Tamworth, Staffordshire. A spelling of "Stoneydelph" is sometimes used but the OS map of 1888 shows "Stonydelph Farm" as the only building in this area...

 and retook another 2 seats from defectors to the Socialist Labour Party. This was the first time in at least 20 years that any party had won all the seats contested in an election for the council. Turnout

Voter turnout

Voter turnout is the percentage of eligible voters who cast a ballot in an election . After increasing for many decades, there has been a trend of decreasing voter turnout in most established democracies since the 1960s...

in the election was low with only 16.2% voting in Stonydelph.

Labour said the results showed "that Labour Party policies have been a resounding success", however the Conservatives said their party had increased the share of the vote laying foundations for 1999.