Institute of Cornish Studies Elections Project

This Collection includes newscuttings and election propaganda relating to the 1979 and 1983 General Elections in Cornwall and intervening years collected by The Institute of Cornish Studies. Materials are largely organised by election year and then mostly by constituency with some non-constituency specific files where appropriate. Specific topics covered by press cuttings include: boundary changes, English immigration and second homes, high unemployment, closure of Falmouth ship yard, and the rise and criticism of the Social Democratic Party in Cornwall. Examples of campaign flyers - listed below - are included by constituency.
Please note that some files seem to be absent on deposit. St Ives constituency is not represented in the 1979 sequence, and only Truro and North Cornwall are present for 1983. It is unclear if these materials were collected at and subsequenlty lost. Some evidence for these absent constituencies are available through other files.

Listed by Roo Pescod, July 2017.

As per original order

Open except for those records subject to data protection legislation.

The Institute of Cornish Studies (ICS) was launched in 1971 as a collaborative venture between the then Cornwall County Council and the University of Exeter. At that time its Director, Charles Thomas, defined its remit as 'The study of all aspects of man and his handiwork in the regional setting (Cornwall and Scilly), past, present and future. The development of society, industry and the landscape in our fast changing world is as much of concern ? as the history of those vast topics in the recent and remote past.'

This Collection was compiled as a result of the ICS project to record a local view of two national General Elections.

The UK General Election of 1979 was held on 3rd of May 1979. The Conservative Party, led by Margaret Thatcher, ousted the incumbent Labour government of James Callaghan with a parliamentary majority of 43 seats. Nationally the Election saw a 5.2% voter swing from Labour to the Conservatives following widespread public sector trade union strikes under Calaghan's Labour Government in 1978-9's 'Winter of Discontent'.

During Thatcher's first three years as Prime Minister, unemployment increased and the Country went through an economic recession. However, by the time she called an election on 9th June 1983, the economy had returned to growth which, coupled with British victory in the Falklands, led to the Conservatives increasing their majority to 144 seats.

In 1983 Labour adopted a platform that was considered more left-wing than usual, leading to several moderate Labour MPs leaving the party to form the Social Democrats (SDP). The Social Democrats then formed the SDP-Liberal Alliance with the existing Liberal Party who eventually gained 25% of the public vote, polling third but only 700,000 votes behind a much diminished Labour.

Prior to the 1979 Election Cornwall had 3 Conservative MPs and 2 Liberals across its five constituencies of Bodmin, North Cornwall, Falmouth and Camborne, St Ives, and Truro. Whilst a dramatic period nationally, 1979-1983 saw comparatively little change in Cornwall. John Pardoe (Liberal) was ousted in 1979 by Gerry Neale (Conservative) from his North Cornwall seat whilst 4 incumbents remained in other constituencies: Robert Hicks (Conservative) in Bodmin, David Mudd (Conservative) in Falmouth and Camborne, John Nott (Conservative) in St Ives, David Penhaligon (Liberal) in Truro. In 1983 only David Harris (Conservative) replacing John Nott (Conservative) as MP for St Ives saw any change to elected MPs.

However, subtle changes were taking place in Cornish politics. 1979 saw Mebyon Kernow candidates increasing their shares to 3% and 4% of their electorates, as well as the first National Front candidates in Cornwall, sparking anti-Nazi marches through town centres. Boundary changes in 1982 threatened some upheaval, but were negotiated by local MPs to a satisfying conclusion for all the major parties. 1982 saw the foundation of the St Austell Young Conservatives club who quickly swelled to 44 members within their first year. In 1983 the SDP-Liberal Alliance made its presence felt in the County, with debate sparked about the loyalty of prominent local Labour and Liberal politicians.

Despite the national climate the successful campaigns were largely run on traditional Cornish policies of widespread unemployment, NHS funding, 'the Cornish way of life', the overspill of English migration into Cornwall, and the destructive nature of second homes. Despite the Country having undergone its largest political swing since the 1920s, one journalist declared that the 1983 election had "Scarcely ruffled the feathers of Cornish politics. Four Tories and one Liberal continue to represent the county in Parliament." (The West Briton, 1983)