Elections to Wigan Council were held on 6 May 1976, with one third of the seats up for election. Four Conservative gains and an Independent in Ward 23 regaining a seat reduced Labour's working majority to 40 seats. Two seats (Ward 4 and Ward 21) went uncontested, and turnout rose to 34.0% - a return to 1973 levels after a sizeable fall the previous year.[1]
This result had the following consequences for the total number of seats on the Council after the elections:
| valign=top colspan="2" style="width: 230px" | Party | valign=top style="width: 30px" | Previous council | valign=top style="width: 30px" | New council |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labour | 61 | 56 | |||
| Conservatives | 10 | 14 | |||
| Liberals | 1 | 1 | |||
| Independent | 0 | 1 | |||
| Total | 72 | 72 | |||
| Working majority | |||||