1982 Shetland Islands Area Council election

1982 Shetland Islands Council election
All 25 seats to Shetland Islands Council; 13 seats needed for a majority
Council Convener before election; A.I. Tulloch; Independent	Council Convener after election ; A.I. Tulloch; Independent

An election to Shetland Islands Council was held on 6 May 1982 as part of the 1982 Scottish regional elections and yielded a swing to candidates supportive of Home Rule for the islands. Whilst no candidates appeared on the ballot as members of the Shetland Movement (all Shetland candidates were independents), the Shetland Movement did publish a list of candidates supportive of Shetland Home Rule. Ultimately of the 25 members of the Shetland council, 14 were supporters of the movement.^[1]

Supporters of island autonomy similarly contested council elections in neighboring Orkney.^[2]

The councils for the Shetland Islands, Orkney, and the Western Isles operated as combined authorities, meaning that instead of having both regional and district governance, the Islands had a single level combined of governance. These councils were elected at the same time as Scottish regional councils.

Aggregate results

Shetland Islands Council election, 1982
	Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
Independent	23	1	0	1	92.0	87.8	2,991	6.7
Labour	2	0	1	1	8.0	6.5	222	12.4
Ratepayers	0	0	0	0	0.0	5.7	194	New

Ward results

1st, Lerwick Sound
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	John Graham	Unopposed

2nd, Lerwick–Clickimin
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	Thomas M. Y. Manson	121	35.4%
	Independent	Cecil B. Eunson	112	32.7%
	Independent	Ian Byrne (Incumbent)	109	31.9%
Majority			9	2.7%
Turnout
	Independent hold

3rd, Lerwick–North
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	Leonard G. Groat	221	52.0%
	Ratepayers	Robert Tulloch (Incumbent)	194	48.0%
Majority			17	4.0%
Turnout
	Independent gain from Ratepayers

4th, Lerwick Central
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Bill Smith (Incumbent)	Unopposed

5th, Lerwick Harbour
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	Edward Thomason (Incumbent)	Unopposed

6th, Lerwick Twageos
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	Sandy Clunes (Incumbent)	Unopposed

7th, Lerwick Breiwick
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	Leslie Eunson	Unopposed

8th, Unst
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	Alan B. Fraser	157	41.1%
	Independent	Karl M. Gray	148	38.7%
	Independent	William Playfair (Incumbent)	77	20.2%
Majority			9	2.4%
Turnout
	Independent hold

9th, Yell North
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	David Johnson (Incumbent)	Unopposed

10th, Yell South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	Stewart Gray (Incumbent)	Unopposed

11th, Northmavine
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Christopher D. Dowle (Incumbent)	222	55.8%
	Independent	Gilbert J. Mowat	127	31.9%
	Independent	William J. Beattie	49	12.3%
Majority			95	23.9%
Turnout
	Labour gain from Independent

12th, Delting North
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	Fraser Paterson	Unopposed

13th, Delting South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	Albert Hunter (Incumbent)	Unopposed

14th, Nesting and Lunnasting
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	Benji Hunter (Incumbent)	Unopposed

15th, Bressay
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	James Irvine (Incumbent)	Unopposed

16th, Scalloway
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	William Anderson	Unopposed

17th, Whiteness, Weisdale and Tingwall
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	Cecil R. H. Eunson	258	55.7%
	Independent	Florence B. Grains (Incumbent)	205	44.3%
Majority			53	11.4%
Turnout

18th, Whalsay and Skerries
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	Henry Stewart (Incumbent)	Unopposed

19th, Sandsting and Aithsting
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	Alexander Tulloch (Incumbent)	247	57.6%
	Independent	William Tait	182	42.4%
Majority			65	15.2%
Turnout

20th, Sandness and Walls
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	Gordon Walterson (Incumbent)	Unopposed

21st, Cunningsburgh
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	Joan Macleod	Unopposed

22nd, Burra and Trondra
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	William A. Cumming	316	75.2%
	Independent	Susan G. Morrow-Irvine	104	24.8%
Majority			212	50.4%
Turnout

23rd, Sandwick
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	Malcolm S. Bray	198	57.9%
	Independent	Peter Watts	144	42.1%
Majority			54	15.8%
Turnout

24th, Dunrossness North
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	William Tait (Incumbent)	Unopposed

25th, Dunrossness South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	Raymond R. Bentley (Incumbent)	142	65.7%
	Independent	John F. D. MacKenzie	74	34.3%
Majority			68	31.4%
Turnout

^[3]^[4]

By-elections since 1982

1982 Delting North by-election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Roberta Clubb	Unopposed
	Labour gain from Independent

1983 Delting North by-election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	Andrea Manson	337	76.8%
	Labour	Paul Thorn	102	23.2%
Majority			235	53.6%
Turnout
	Independent gain from Labour

References

^ "Shetland home rulers returned". The Glasgow Herald. 8 May 1982. p. 12.
^ Lynch, Peter (2001). Scottish Government and Politics: An Introduction. ISBN 9780748612871.
^ "The Glasgow Herald - Google News Archive Search".
^ "The Glasgow Herald - Google News Archive Search".

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[1] "Shetland home rulers returned". The Glasgow Herald. 8 May 1982. p. 12.

[2] Lynch, Peter (2001). Scottish Government and Politics: An Introduction. ISBN 9780748612871.

[3] "The Glasgow Herald - Google News Archive Search".

[4] "The Glasgow Herald - Google News Archive Search".

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