Regional elections were held in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

on 5 May 1994, as part of the

Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 (c. 65) is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom that altered local government in Scotland on 16 May 1975. The Act followed and largely implemented the report of the Royal Commission on Local Gove ...

. These were the last elections before 29 new mainland

unitary authorities A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the national governmen ...

, established by the

Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994 The Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994 (c. 39) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which created the current local government structure of 32 unitary authorities covering the whole of Scotland. It abolished the two-tie ...

, came into effect. The councils up for election were last contested in

1990 Scottish regional elections Regional elections were held in Scotland on Thursday 3 May 1990, as part of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, and were the first test of public opinion on the Community Charge, which had been introduced in Scotland in 1989. National resu ...

, and vote and seat changes are compared to the 1990 results.

Overview

Background

As these were the last elections to the Regional Councils, which were to be abolished within the next two years, the election was seen as a somewhat pointless exercise as the elected representatives would have minimal time to introduce any policies before powers were transferred to the new unitary authorities. Nevertheless, voters still saw it as an opportunity to demonstrate the popularity of

John Major Sir John Major (born 29 March 1943) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997, and as Member of Parliament ...

's incumbent Tory Government, which saw the Conservatives lose 21 seats, and be replaced by the Liberal Democrats as third largest party by number of seats.

Outcome

A record number of 1522 candidates stood for election across Scotland, including a new high of 341 women candidates. Turnout stayed almost the same from 1990 at 45.6%, a decrease of 0.3%. The Conservatives' vote share decreased by 5.8%, to give them their worst ever performance at a local election, with only 13.7% of the vote. Labour retained their position as the largest party, down slightly from the previous election. The SNP made large gains of almost 5%, mainly at the expense of the Conservatives, as did the Liberal Democrats, who increased their vote share by 3.7%. Independent candidates won the most votes in the Highland, Border and Dumfries & Galloway regions, despite having lost up to 9% of the vote in some areas.

Regional Trends

Labour held Strathclyde, Lothian, Central and Fife Regions, while Independents took a majority on Orkney, Shetland, Highland and the Western Isles councils, as well as taking the most seats on Borders and Dumfries and Galloway councils. As in 1990, no party won a majority on Tayside and Grampian councils, with the SNP overtaking Labour to be the largest party on the former, and the Liberal Democrats winning a plurality of seats on the latter.

National results

, - !colspan=2, Parties !votes !% !Seats , - , , , 704,604, , 41.8, , 220 , - , , , 458,951, , 26.8, , 73 , - , , , 234,840, , 13.7, , 31 , - , , , 208,349, , 12.2, , 60 , - , , , 80,092, , 4.2, , 65 , - , , , 4,064, , , , 1 , - , , , 1,839, , , , 1 , - , , , 885, , , , 1 , - , The Liberal candidate was elected unopposed , , 0, , , , 1 , - , , , 11,476, , 0.7, , 0 , - , , People Pension Power , , 313, , , , 0 , - , , , 185, , , , 0 , - , , , 124, , , , 0 , - , , , 97, , , , 0 , - , , , 82, , , , 0 , - , , James Connolly Society , , 76, , , , 0 , - , , Doctor Slug Party , , 43, , , , 0 , - , , Scottish Republican Socialist , , 38, , , , 0 , - , , Scottish Christian Democratic , , 32, , , , 0 , - !colspan=2, Total!!1,706,090!!45.1!!453

Results by council area

Notes

References

{{United Kingdom local elections, 1994 1994 Scottish local elections 1994 in Scotland

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

May 1994 events in the United Kingdom