West Midlands County Council election, 1981

Local elections to the West Midlands County Council, a Metropolitan County Council encompassing the West Midlands, were held on 7 May 1981, resulting in large swings to Labour, giving them control of the council.

This would be the last election to the West Midlands County Council, with metropolitan county councils being scrapped on 31 March 1986 under the Local Government Act 1985 by the Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher. The councils abolition came following several high profile clashes between mostly Labour metropolitan county councils and the Conservative government over issues including overspending and high rates charging.

Results

Overall Results

West Midlands County Council election, 1981
Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Labour	74					50.0		18.7
	Conservative	25					36.7		22.0
	Liberal Democrat	5					9.8		5.5
	Independent	0					0.5		0.1
	Green	0					0.4		0.3
	Others	0					2.5		2.5

Borough summary

 Results of the West Midlands County Council election, 1981
by Metropolitan Borough

Borough	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	Total Cllrs
	Labour		Conservative		Liberal		Green		Independent		Others
Birmingham	49.7	30	35.0	9	12.4	3	0.8	0	0.1	0	2.0	0	42
Coventry	49.3	9	37.1	3	12.3	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	1.4	0	12
Dudley	57.2	9	40.2	2	1.7	0	0.7	0	0.0	0	0.2	0	11
Sandwell	60.5	9	28.9	1	9.9	2	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.7	0	12
Solihull	31.8	2	46.1	5	12.6	0	0.5	0	0.0	0	9.0	0	7
Walsall	44.1	7	35.0	3	10.3	0	0.0	0	3.8	0	6.8	0	10
Wolverhampton	53.0	8	42.1	2	3.4	0	0.0	0	0.7	0	0.9	0	8
Total	50.0	74	36.7	25	9.8	5	0.5	0	0.4	0	2.5	0	104