1972 Newport County Borough Council election

The 1972 Newport County Borough Council election was held on Thursday 4 May 1972 to elect councillors to the Newport County Borough Council in Newport, Monmouthshire. It took place on the same day as other district and county borough council elections in England and Wales.

These were the final elections to the county borough council, which would be replaced on 1 April 1974. The previous all-council election took place in May 1971.

The 1972 election saw the Labour Party make major gains.

Newport County Borough was created in 1891 and abolished for 22 years from 1974, following local government reorganisation enacted by the Local Government Act 1972.

Each of the county borough's electoral divisions was represented by three councillors, who stood down in turn for re-election, hence would each sit for a three year term. The council also consisted of 13 aldermen, who were elected by the councillors.

At this election Labour won nine of the 14 available seats from the Conservative Party and won a further seat held by a Ratepayer councillor. They increased their majority on the Council to 26.^[1]

The composition of the Council following the election was 39 Labour members, 12 Conservatives and one Ratepayer.^[1]

Contests for one of the seats took place in 12 wards, though in Allt-yr-yn two seats were contested.^[2]

Alexandra ward 1972

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Lilian Mabel Bowen *	1,243
	Ratepayer	Edward John James Clarke	351
Turnout
	Labour hold		Swing

Allt-yr-yn ward 1972

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Robert Frank Allen *	1,947
	Conservative	Trevor Charles Warren	1,905
	Liberal	Elizabeth Ann Harrop-Griffiths	834
	Labour	Paul Phillip Flynn	694
Turnout
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

Alway ward 1972

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Michael John Lewis	1,933
	Conservative	Clive Wallace Venn *	1,175
Turnout
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

Beechwood ward 1972

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Martin Hugh Prior	1,270
	Conservative	William Ronald Morris *	957
	Liberal	Winifred Anita Crowther	728
Turnout
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

Bettws ward 1972

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Janice Averil Morgan *	1,942
	Conservative	Susan Carolyn Atkin	440
Turnout
	Labour hold		Swing

Central ward 1972

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Alan Islwyn Giles	1,065
	Ratepayer	Reginald James Dray *	766
Turnout
	Labour gain from Ratepayer

Liswerry ward 1972

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Desmond Michael Coleman	1,719
	Conservative	John Maynard *	976
Turnout
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

Malpas ward 1972

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Veronica Joyce Brydon	1,647
	Conservative	Reginald Sydney Owen Thomas *	1,102
Turnout
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

Ringland ward 1972

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jean Audrey Card	2,230
	Conservative	Trevor Clement Tranter *	807
Turnout
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

Shaftesbury ward 1972

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Richard Edward Murray	1,679
	Conservative	Eugene Alwyn John Manso-Reesare Di-Villa *	919
Turnout
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

St Julians ward 1972

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Robert Charles Bright	1,493
	Conservative	Alfred James Copus *	1,265
	Liberal	Sarah Harriet Elizabeth Havard	303
Turnout
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

St Woolos ward 1972

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Lloyd Ramsay Turnbull	2,350
	Conservative	William Wright	1,040
Turnout
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

Victoria ward 1972

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Harry George Williams	1,423
	Conservative	Roger Lockyer *	926
Turnout
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

* = 'retiring' ward councillor for re-election

• 1973 Gwent County Council election