 On a heavily reduced turnout, the result of the contest was a victory for the Labour candidate, Bob Litherland, who won with the same 70.7% share of the vote which Lever had won at the general election in May 1979.Syed Ala-Ud-Din stood in protest at not being selected as the Labour candidate.Litherland held the seat until he retired from the House of Commons at the 1997 general election.