The 1968 Bexley Council election took place on 9 May 1968 to elect members of Bexley London Borough Council in London, England. The whole council was up for election. The Conservative Party won all but one seat and took control of the council from Labour.
Background The London Borough of Bexley had been created by the London Government Act 1963 as a merger of the Municipal Borough of Bexley, Municipal Borough of Erith, Chislehurst and Sidcup Urban District and Crayford Urban District.
The first elections to Bexley Council in 1964, initially as a "shadow authority" were won by the Labour party, and James Wellbeloved became council leader. Wellbeloved contested the 1965 Erith and Crayford by-election and won, giving the council leadership to Peter Maxwell.
143 candidates stood in the election for the 56 seats being contested across 20 wards. This was down 14 candidates from the 1964 election, primarily due to the Liberal party halving their candidate count from 47 to 22. The Labour party stood candidates for every seat for the second time. The Conservative party stood candidates for every seat for the first time, having not stood at all in two Crayford wards in 1964. There were two Communist Party candidates and seven independents. There were 13 three-seat wards, 4 two-seat wards, 2 four-seat wards and 1 single-seat ward.
Election result
! colspan="2" |Total | style="text-align:right;" | 143 | style="text-align:right;" | 56 | style="text-align:right;" | | style="text-align:right;" | | style="text-align:right;" | | style="text-align:right;" | 100.0 | style="text-align:right;" | | style="text-align:right;" | TBD | style="text-align:right;" | The results saw the Conservatives gain control of the council after winning 55 of the 56 seats. This was the best result for the Conservatives ever. There was a turnout of 48% on an electorate of 149,517.
Ward results
References