'All-out' elections to the Wigan Council were held on 1 May 1980, following extensive boundary changes and entirely new wards, yet retaining the number of 24 wards with three seats each for a total of 72 seats. The results were comparable to the 1973 election (also an election where all 72 seats were up for vote), with Labour rewarded a crushing majority in seats for approaching 60% of the vote with their main competitors, the Conservatives, falling to under 30%. The Liberals seen their highest representation yet by way of winning all three seats in Langtree.

A former Labour councillor who'd represented the just-abolished ward 19 (encompassing central/north Hindley) since the council's creation fought the Hindley ward as an Independent Labour. Overall turnout fell to the slightly higher than usual number of 36.2% from the general election turnout of 75.7% last year, with all wards recording at least one competitor - although that meant in a number of wards Labour were unopposed for one or two of the seats.^[1]

This result had the following consequences for the total number of seats on the Council after the elections: