Elections to South Yorkshire County Council, a metropolitan county council of Yorkshire in England, were held on 7 May 1981, resulting in a council with Labour members forming a majority.
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All 100 seats to South Yorkshire County Council 51 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Election results by metropolitan borough. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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This was the last election to the South Yorkshire county council, as metropolitan county councils were abolished in 1986.
Results
edit| Party | Seats | Gains | Losses | Net gain/loss | Seats % | Votes % | Votes | +/− | |
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| Labour | 82 | 58.8 |  13.9
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| Conservative | 14 | 23.1 |  16.6
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| Liberal | 3 | 13.3 | 7.1
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| Green | 0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.1
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| Independent | 0 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 0.7
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| Other parties | 1 | 4.2 | 3.8
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