2022 Scottish local elections
5 May 2022 (2022-05-05)
All 1,227 seats to 32 Scottish councils
Turnout44.8% (Decrease2.1%)[1]
  First party Second party Third party
 
Nicola Sturgeon 2021.jpg
Anas Sarwar MSP.jpg
Official portrait of Douglas Ross MP crop 2.jpg
Leader Nicola Sturgeon Anas Sarwar Douglas Ross
Party SNP Labour Conservative
Last election 431 seats, 32.30% 262 seats, 20.16% 276 seats, 25.30%
Seats won 453 282 214
Seat change Increase22 Increase20 Decrease63
First preferences 633,252 403,243 364,824
First preferences (%) 34.1% 21.8% 19.7%
Swing (pp) Increase1.8% Increase1.6% Decrease5.6%
  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP.jpg
Lorna Slater MSP and Patrick Harvie MSP.jpg
Leader None Alex Cole-Hamilton Lorna Slater and
Patrick Harvie
(co-leaders)
Party Independent Liberal Democrats Scottish Green
Last election 168 seats, 10.4% 67 seats, 6.82% 19 seats, 4.1%
Seats won 152 87 35
Seat change Decrease15 Increase20 Increase16
First preferences 156,815 159,815 110,791
First preferences (%) 8.4% 8.6% 6.0%
Swing (pp) Decrease2.0% Increase1.7% Increase1.8%

The 2022 Scottish local elections were held on 5 May 2022, as part of the 2022 United Kingdom local elections. All 1,227 seats across all 32 Scottish local authorities were up for election and voter turnout was 44.8%.[1]

Compared to the previous elections of 2017, the Scottish National Party (SNP) gained seats and maintained its position as largest party in local government, winning 36.9% of the seats available. Scottish Labour (winning 22.9% of seats) gained seats, whilst the Scottish Conservatives (who won 17.5%) lost many seats, being displaced by Scottish Labour as the second-largest party. Independent candidates also lost seats, whilst the Scottish Liberal Democrats and the Scottish Greens increased their vote share and gained seats across Scotland.

At the 2017 election, no council was won by an overall majority of any party. In the 2022 election, the SNP increased its vote share and secured an overall majority on Dundee City Council,[2] whilst Labour won overall control of West Dunbartonshire Council.[3] Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross blamed his party's bad results on the partygate scandal.[4]

The Alba Party and Scottish Family Party ran candidates in around 100 seats each but failed to win any. The Rubbish Party and West Dunbartonshire Community Party held their singular seats, whilst the British Unionist Party gained their first seat from the Conservatives.

Background

The last election was in 2017, which was held five years after the 2012 election, instead of four was changed in order to avoid clashing with the 2016 Scottish Parliament election.

Boundaries Scotland have conducted a review of electoral arrangements for six councils under the terms of the Islands (Scotland) Act 2018.[5] The Scottish Parliament's Local Government Committee accepted the new boundaries in Na h-Eileanan an Iar, North Ayrshire, Orkney and Shetland, but recommended against approval of the changes in Argyll and Bute and Highland.[6]

Voting system and eligibility to vote

Ballot paper used for the elections in the Victoria Park ward of the Glasgow City Council

Councillors are elected to represent multi-member wards using the Single Transferable Vote (STV) method, which has been used for all elections to local authorities in Scotland since the 2007 election. Previous to this election, in all votes since 2007, wards have been sized such that either 3 or 4 councillors are elected per ward. However, this election was different. The Islands (Scotland) Act 2018 and the Scottish Elections (Reform) Act 2020 have given Boundaries Scotland increased flexibility to vary the size of wards. Mainland wards may now have between 2 and 5 councillors, and single councillor wards are permitted where such a ward includes an inhabited island.[7] For these elections wards represented by one, two or five councillors will only be contested in the four council areas in which ward boundaries have been redrawn after 2017, namely Na h-Eileanan an Iar, North Ayrshire, Orkney and Shetland.

Overall, the 32 local authorities had one one-seat district (Arran), seven two-seat districts and three five-seat districts (North Ayrshire) in addition to the bulk of the members elected in three and four seat districts.

All registered electors (British citizens and all other foreign nationals with leave to remain, including refugees)[8] who are aged 16 or over on polling day are entitled to vote in the local elections.[9] A person who has two homes (such as a university student who has a term-time address and lives at home during holidays) can register to vote at both addresses as long as they are not in the same electoral area, and can vote in the local elections for the two different local councils.[10]

Individuals must have been registered to vote by midnight on 18 April 2022. The deadlines to register for a postal vote and proxy vote were 19 and 26 April 2022, respectively.[11]

Results

Summary of the May 2022 Scottish council election results
Party First-preference votes Councils 2017 seats 2022 seats
Count Of total (%) Change Count Change Count Of total (%) Count Of total (%) Change
No overall control — 27 Decrease2 — —
SNP 633,252 34.1% Increase1.8% 1 Increase1 431 35.1% 453 37.0% Increase22
Labour 403,243 21.7% Increase1.6% 1 Increase1 262 21.4% 282 23.1% Increase20
Conservative 364,824 19.6% Decrease5.7% 0 Steady 276 22.5% 214 17.5% Decrease63
Liberal Democrats 159,815 8.6% Increase1.7% 0 Steady 67 5.5% 87 7.1% Increase20
Independents 156,815 8.4% Decrease2.0% 3 Steady 168 14.1% 152 12.2% Decrease15
Green 110,791 6.0% Increase1.9% 0 Steady 19 1.6% 35 2.9% Increase16
Alba 12,335 0.7% 0 Steady 0.0% New
Scottish Family 6,857 0.4% 0 Steady 0.0% New
West Dunbartonshire Community 1,462 0.1% 0 Steady 1 0.1% Steady
Scottish Socialist 1,058 0.1% Increase0.1% 0 Steady 0.0% Steady
TUSC 1,022 0.1% 0 Steady 0.0% Steady
British Unionist 859 0.1% 0 Steady 1 0.1% Increase1
Rubbish 787 0.0% 0 Steady 1 0.1% Steady
Independence for Scotland 742 0.0% 0 Steady 0.0% New
Libertarian 698 0.0% 0 Steady 0.0% Steady
Freedom Alliance 555 0.0% 0 Steady 0.0% New
Volt UK 421 0.0% 0 Steady 0.0% New
Socialist Labour 381 0.0% 0 Steady 0.0% Steady
UKIP 372 0.0% Decrease0.2% 0 Steady 0.0% Steady
Women's Equality 228 0.0% 0 Steady 0.0% New
Social Democratic 222 0.0% 0 Steady 0.0% Steady
Sovereignty 154 0.0% 0 Steady 0.0% New
Communist 119 0.0% 0 Steady 0.0% New
Pensioner's 75 0.0% 0 Steady 0.0% New
Vanguard 74 0.0% 0 Steady 0.0% New
Workers 61 0.0% 0 Steady 0.0% New
Scottish Eco-Federalist 24 0.0% 0 Steady 0.0% New
Total 1,892,215 100.0 ±0.0 32 Steady 1,223 1,227 1,227 100.00 Steady

Councils

Parties with coloured cells are part of governing coalitions or are the council administration. The party of the council leader is bold and marked with an asterisk (*).

2022 results

The table below shows the number of seats won by each party in the 2022 elections.[12]

Council Article SNP Lab Con Ind Lib Dem Green Others
Aberdeen Details 20* 11 8 2 4* – –
Aberdeenshire Details 21 – 26* 9 14 – –
Angus Details 13* 1 7 7 — — —
Argyll and Bute Details 12 1 10 7 5* 1 –
Clackmannanshire Details 9* 5 3 – – 1 –
Dumfries and Galloway Details 11* 9* 16 6 1 – –
Dundee Details 15* 9 1 – 4 - -
East Ayrshire Details 14 10 4 3 – – 1[lower-alpha 1]
East Dunbartonshire Details 8* 4 3 1 6 – –
East Lothian Details 7 10* 4 – – 1 –
East Renfrewshire Details 6 5* 5 2 – – –
Edinburgh Details 19 13* 9 – 12 10 –
Falkirk Details 12* 9 5 4 – – –
Fife Details 34 20* 8 – 13 – –
Glasgow Details 37* 36 2 – – 10 –
Highland Details 22* 2 10 17 + 4 15 4 –
Inverclyde Details 8 9* 2 3 – – –
Midlothian Details 8* 7 3 – – – –
Moray Details 8 3 11* 2 1 1 –
Na h-Eileanan Siar Details 6 – 1 20* – – 2[lower-alpha 2]
North Ayrshire Details 12* 9 10 2 – – –
North Lanarkshire Details 36* 32 5 2 – 1 1[lower-alpha 3]
Orkney Details – – – 19* – 2 –
Perth and Kinross Details 16* 2 14 4 4 – –
Renfrewshire Details 21* 15 5 1 1 – –
Scottish Borders Details 9 – 14* 7 3 1 –
Shetland Details 1 1 – 19* – 1 1[lower-alpha 2]
South Ayrshire[13] Details 9 5 10* 4 – – –
South Lanarkshire[14] Details 27 24* 7 2 3 1 –
Stirling[15] Details 8 6* 7 1 – 1 –
West Dunbartonshire Details 9 12* – – – – 1[lower-alpha 4]
West Lothian Details 15 12* 4 1 1 – –
Total 453 282 214 149 87 35 3

2017 results

The table shows the number of seats won by each party in the 2017 elections.

Council Article SNP Lab Con Ind. Lib Dem Green Others
Aberdeen Details 19 9* 11 2 4 – –
Aberdeenshire Details 21 1 23* 10 14 1 –
Angus Details 9 – 8 9* 2 – –
Argyll and Bute Details 11 – 9 10 6* – –
Clackmannanshire Details 8* 5 5 – – – –
Dumfries and Galloway Details 11 11* 16 4 1 – –
Dundee Details 14* 9 3 1 2 – –
East Ayrshire Details 14* 9 6 2 – – 1[lower-alpha 5]
East Dunbartonshire Details 7 2 6 1 6* – –
East Lothian Details 6 9* 7 – – – –
East Renfrewshire Details 5* 4 7 1 + 1 – – –
Edinburgh Details 19* 12 18 – 6 8 –
Falkirk Details 12* 9 7 2 – – –
Fife Details 29* 24* 15 – 7 – –
Glasgow Details 39* 31 8 – – 7 –
Highland Details 22 3 10 28* 10 1 –
Inverclyde Details 7 8* 2 4 1 – –
Midlothian Details 6 7* 5 – – – –
Moray Details 9* 1 8 8 – – –
Na h-Eileanan Siar Details 7 – 1 23* – – –
North Ayrshire Details 11 11* 7 4 – – –
North Lanarkshire Details 33 32* 10 2 – – –
Orkney Details – – – 18* – 1 2[lower-alpha 6]
Perth and Kinross Details 15 1 17* 3 4 – –
Renfrewshire Details 19* 13 8 2 1 – –
Scottish Borders Details 9 – 15* 8 2 – –
Shetland Details 1 – – 21* – – –
South Ayrshire Details 9* 5 12 2 – – –
South Lanarkshire Details 27* 22 14 – 1 – –
Stirling Details 9* 4 9 – – 1 –
West Dunbartonshire Details 10* 8 2 1 – – 1[lower-alpha 7]
West Lothian Details 13 12* 7 1 – – –

Previous composition

This table shows the composition of councils directly prior to the 2022 election. Note that some seats are currently vacant and will not be filled before the election. Included in the Green totals are two councillors who have publicly joined the party since the election (denoted by †), but continue to sit as independents.

Council SNP Con Lab Ind Lib Dem Green Alba Others
Aberdeen 19 10 0 3 + 1[lower-alpha 8] 3 – – 9*[lower-alpha 9]
Aberdeenshire 16 18* 0 10+5+1+2[lower-alpha 10] 13 1 3 1[lower-alpha 11]
Angus 9 7 + 1 – 6* + 4 1 – – –
Argyll and Bute 11 7 + 1[lower-alpha 12] – 5 + 2 + 3[lower-alpha 13] 5* – – 1[lower-alpha 14]
Clackmannanshire 7* 5 4 1 – – – –
Dumfries and Galloway 10 16 10* 3 + 1[lower-alpha 15] 1 – – 2[lower-alpha 16]
Dundee 13* 3 8 3 2 – – –
East Ayrshire 13* 5 9 4 – – – 1[lower-alpha 5]
East Dunbartonshire 7 4 2 2 6* – – –
East Lothian 6 7 9* – – – – –
East Renfrewshire 5* 5 4 4 – – – –
Edinburgh 16* 17 11 5 6 7 – –
Falkirk 13* 7 7 1 + 2 – – – –
Fife 29* 13 23* 2 7 – – –
Glasgow 35* 7 30 3 + 2[lower-alpha 17] – 6 2 –
Highland 19 10 3 23*+3+1+1[lower-alpha 18] 11 1 – –
Inverclyde 5 2 8* 4 1 – 2 –
Midlothian 7 5 6* – – – – –
Moray 7* 9 1 4 + 2 + 2[lower-alpha 19] – – – –
Na h-Eileanan Siar 6 1 – 22* – 1†[lower-alpha 20] 1 –
North Ayrshire 9 8 10* 6 – – – –
North Lanarkshire 26 8 31* 9 – – 3 –
Orkney – – – 17* – 2†[lower-alpha 20] – 2[lower-alpha 6]
Perth and Kinross 13 18* 1[lower-alpha 21] 3 5 – – –
Renfrewshire 19* 8 13 2 1 – – –
Scottish Borders 8 15* – 9 2 – – –
Shetland 1 – – 21* – – – –
South Ayrshire 9* 12 5 2 – – – –
South Lanarkshire 25* 11 17 5 + 3[lower-alpha 22] 3 – – –
Stirling 7* 9 4 1 – 1 1 –
West Dumbartonshire 9* 2 8 1 – – 1 1[lower-alpha 7]
West Lothian 14 7 11* 1 – – – –

Opinion polling

First preference voting intention
Date(s)
conducted		 Polling organisation/client Sample size SNP Con Lab Lib Dem Green Alba Others
29 Apr – 3 May 2022 Survation 893 41% 17% 23% 8% 5% 1% 4%
24–28 Mar 2022Survation/Ballot Box Scotland1,00244%18%23%6%3%1%4%
20–26 Oct 2021Panelbase/Scot Goes Pop1,00145%22%21%6%4%2%<1%
4 May 20172017 Scottish local elections1,889,65832.30%25.30%20.16%6.82%4.1%-10.4%

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ The Rubbish Party
  2. 1 2 Seats that remain vacant as there were fewer candidates than seats available in some wards.
  3. ↑ British Unionist Party
  4. ↑ West Dunbartonshire Community Party
  5. 1 2 The Rubbish Party
  6. 1 2 Orkney Manifesto Group
  7. 1 2 West Dunbartonshire Community Party
  8. ↑ 3 Independent Alliance Group; 1 independent
  9. ↑ Aberdeen Labour
  10. ↑ 10 Aligned Independent; 5 Independent; 1 Democratic Independent; 2 Unaligned
  11. ↑ Scottish Libertarian Party
  12. ↑ 7 Argyll, Lomond and the Islands Group; 1 Argyll and Bute First
  13. ↑ 5 Argyll, Lomond and the Islands Group; 2 Argyll and Bute First; 3 Unaligned
  14. ↑ Independence for Scotland Party
  15. ↑ 3 Independent Group; 1 Unaligned
  16. ↑ Dumfries and Galloway Socialist Group
  17. ↑ 3 Independent Councillor's Group; 2 Independent
  18. ↑ 24 Independent Group; 3 Highland Matters; 1 Sutherland Independent Group; 1 Non-aligned
  19. ↑ 4 Councillors Open Group; 2 Moray Alliance Group; 2 Independent
  20. 1 2 Includes 1 joining the party since the election but continues to sit as an independent
  21. ↑ In grouping with independents
  22. ↑ 5 Independent Group; 3 Independent

References

  1. 1 2 Clark, Alistair (9 May 2022). "Scottish Local Government Elections 2022: The Need for a Long View". Holyrood. Retrieved 13 May 2022.
  2. ↑ "Dundee election results 2022: SNP take overall control of city council". BBC News. 6 May 2022. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
  3. ↑ "Scottish council elections 2022: SNP finishes as biggest party". BBC News. 6 May 2022. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
  4. ↑ "Scottish election results 2022: Tories blame Partygate for 'disappointing' result". BBC News. 6 May 2022. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
  5. ↑ "2019 Reviews of Electoral Arrangements | Scottish Boundary Commission". boundaries.scot. Retrieved 25 October 2021.
  6. ↑ "Electoral Arrangements Regulations" (PDF). Scottish Parliament. Archived (PDF) from the original on 1 October 2021. Retrieved 25 October 2021.
  7. ↑ "News Release: Final Proposals for Na h-Eileanan an Iar, Orkney Islands and Shetland Islands council areas submitted to Scottish Ministers" (PDF) (Press release). Boundaries Scotland. 28 May 2021. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
  8. ↑ "Right to vote extended". gov.scot. 20 February 2020. Retrieved 19 October 2021.
  9. ↑ Uberoi, Elise; Johnston, Neil (19 November 2020). "Voting age". Commons Library. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
  10. ↑ Electoral Commission. "I have two homes. Can I register at both addresses?". electoralcommission.org.uk. The Electoral Commission. Archived from the original on 15 November 2008. Retrieved 24 April 2017.
  11. ↑ "Scotland council elections 2022: A really simple guide". BBC News. 28 March 2022. Retrieved 4 April 2022.
  12. ↑ "Scotland Local Elections 2022". BBC News. Retrieved 8 May 2022.
  13. ↑ "South Ayrshire Council 2022 election results". Ayr Advertiser.
  14. ↑ Bryan, Matt (6 May 2022). "All the Lanarkshire election results LIVE as final wards announced". Daily Record.
  15. ↑ "Stirling result - Scottish Council Elections 2022". BBC News.
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