Elections for the Scottish district councils were held in 1980.

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1980 Scottish local elections

← 1978 1 May 1980 (1980-05-01) 1982 →

First party Second party   Leader James Callaghan Margaret Thatcher Party Labour Conservative Leader since 5 April 1976 11 February 1975 Seats won 469 232 Seat change 187 27 Popular vote 45.4% 24.1% Swing 13.8 3.1   Third party Fourth party   Leader Gordon Wilson David Steel Party SNP Liberal Leader since 1979 7 July 1976 Seats won 52 33 Seat change 118 29 Popular vote 15.5% 6.2% Swing 8.7 2.2

Colours denote the winning party with outright control

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These were the third elections held to the 53 district councils established by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973. The previous elections had been held in 1977. The elections took place a year after the Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher had come to power. The local elections, which also took place in England and Wales, were seen as the first electoral test of the Thatcher ministry.^[1]

The poll was held on 1 May and all 1,182 district council seats were to be filled.^[2] Districts formed the second tier in local government in Scotland under the 1975 reorganisation, with regional councils forming the upper tier. It was intended that elections would normally take place on a four-year cycle. Regional elections were also to be on a four-year cycle, held midway between district elections.

Labour had a very good electoral performance, more than regaining the ground they had lost at the 1977 elections. They gained 18 councils: 3 from the Scottish National Party, one from Liberals and 14 from no overall control. Notable gains were the cities of Aberdeen, Dundee and Glasgow.^[3] The Conservatives suffered the loss of Edinburgh but held another six councils. The SNP vote collapsed and they lost control of the three councils they controlled. In a number of councils all of the party's sitting councillors were defeated, most notably in Glasgow where they lost all 16 seats they held. The Liberal Party lost the only council they controlled.^[3]

The seats on each council before and after the election were as follows:^[2][3]