Elections to Angus Council took place on 5 May 2022, the same day as the 31 other Scottish local government elections. As with other Scottish council elections, it was held using

single transferable vote Single transferable vote (STV) is a multi-winner electoral system in which voters cast a single vote in the form of a ranked-choice ballot. Voters have the option to rank candidates, and their vote may be transferred according to alternate ...

(STV) – a form of

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...

– in which multiple candidates are elected in each ward and voters rank candidates in order of preference. For the 11th consecutive election, the Scottish National Party (SNP) were returned as the largest party with 13 seats – two shy of an overall majority. The

Conservatives Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

lost much of the ground they had made up in the previous election as their vote share fell by 7.3%, losing one seat to return seven councillors. The number of independents fell by two to seven, and the remaining seat was won by

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

. The Liberal Democrats lost both their seats. The outgoing Conservative–Liberal Democrat–independent coalition was replaced by an SNP–independent administration with Cllr Beth Whiteside elected as council leader and Cllr Brian Boyd elected as Provost.

Background

Previous election

At the previous election in 2017, the Scottish National Party (SNP) remained the largest party – tied with the number of independents – despite losing 40 per cent of their seats. As a result, they lost control of the council to a coalition of independents,

and Liberal Democrats. The Conservatives came third despite recording the largest share of first preference votes as they gained four seats to double their number of councillors. The Liberal Democrats also gained one seat to double their representation, while

– who received a larger vote share than the Liberal Democrats – lost their only seat. Source:

Electoral system

The election used the eight wards created under the

Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004 The Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004 (asp 9) is an Act of the Scottish Parliament which provided, amongst other things, for the election of councillors to the local authorities in Scotland by the single transferable vote system. The Commissi ...

, with 28 councillors being elected. Each ward elected either 3 or 4 members, using the

(STV) electoral system – a form of

– where candidates are ranked in order of preference.

Composition

No by-elections were held following the previous election in 2017. The only change in the political composition of the council came when Arbroath West, Letham and Friockheim councillor Richard Moore resigned from the Liberal Democrats and sat as an independent after he was found to have inappropriately touched several women.

Retiring councillors

Source:

Candidates

The total number of candidates increased from 53 in 2017 to 56. As with the previous election, the SNP fielded the most candidates at 14 – one fewer than in 2017. After their success in the 2017 election, the Conservatives fielded a total of 11 candidates – two more than the previous election – while the number of independent candidates fell from 14 to 11. The Liberal Democrats maintained a total of eight candidates as they had in 2017, and the number of Labour candidates standing fell by one to six. For the first time, the

Alba Party The Alba Party is a Scottish nationalist and pro-independence political party in Scotland. The party was founded in February 2021, with Alex Salmond (a former first minister of Scotland) announced as party leader shortly thereafter. Salmond lau ...

(three) fielded candidates in Angus.

Results

Source:

Ward summary

, - class="unsortable" align="centre" !rowspan=2 align="left", Ward ! % !Cllrs ! % !Cllrs ! % !Cllrs ! % !Cllrs ! % !Cllrs !rowspan=2, Total
Cllrs , - class="unsortable" align="center" !colspan=2, SNP !colspan=2, Con !colspan=2,

Ind Ind or IND may refer to: General * Independent (politician), a politician not affiliated to any political party * Independent station, used within television program listings and the television industry for a station that is not affiliated with ...

!colspan=2, Lab !colspan=2, Others , - , align="left", Kirriemuir and Dean , bgcolor="#efe146", 42.0 , bgcolor="#efe146", 2 , 38.4 , 1 , colspan="2" , 6.7 , 0 , 12.9 , 0 , 3 , - , align="left", Brechin and Edzell , bgcolor="#efe146", 34.1 , bgcolor="#efe146", 1 , 32.3 , 1 , 20.4 , 1 , 7.2 , 0 , 5.9 , 0 , 3 , - , align="left", Forfar and District , bgcolor="#efe146", 38.4 , bgcolor="#efe146", 2 , 21.4 , 1 , 28.9 , 1 , 5.5 , 0 , 5.9 , 0 , 4 , - , align="left", Monifieth and Sidlaw , bgcolor="#efe146", 39.7 , bgcolor="#efe146", 2 , 30.7 , 1 , colspan="2" , 13.5 , 1 , 16.1 , 0 , 4 , - , align="left", Carnoustie and District , 35.9 , 1 , 17.3 , 0 , bgcolor="#c0c0c0", 36.8 , bgcolor="#c0c0c0", 2 , colspan="2" , 10.0 , 0 , 3 , - , align="left", Arbroath West, Letham and Friockheim , bgcolor="#efe146", 36.2 , bgcolor="#efe146", 2 , 31.4 , 1 , 17.0 , 1 , 6.5 , 0 , 9.0 , 0 , 4 , - , align="left", Arbroath East and Lunan , bgcolor="#efe146", 41.5 , bgcolor="#efe146", 1 , 17.7 , 1 , 31.0 , 1 , 7.0 , 0 , 2.8 , 0 , 3 , - , align="left", Montrose and District , bgcolor="#efe146", 39.3 , bgcolor="#efe146", 2 , 22.3 , 1 , 25.6 , 1 , 6.5 , 0 , 7.6 , 0 , 4 , - class="unsortable" class="sortbottom" !align="left", Total !38.3 !13 !26.6 !7 !19.0 !7 !6.9 !1 !9.2 !0 !28 Source:

Seats changing hands

Below is a list of seats which elected a different party or parties from 2017 in order to highlight the change in political composition of the council from the previous election. The list does not include defeated incumbents who resigned or defected from their party and subsequently failed re-election while the party held the seat. Source: ;Notes

Ward results

Kirriemuir and Dean

The SNP retained the seat they had won at the previous election and gained one from the Conservatives while retained one of their two seats.

Brechin and Edzell

The SNP and Conservatives retained the seats they had won at the previous election while independent candidate Jill Scott gained a seat from retiring independent councillor Bob Myles.

Forfar and District

The SNP and Conservatives retained the seats they had won at the previous election while the SNP gained one seat from independent candidate Colin Brown.

Monifieth and Sidlaw

The SNP (2) and the Conservatives (1) retained the seats they had won at the previous election while Labour gained a seat from the Liberal Democrats.

Carnoustie and District

The SNP and independent candidates David Cheape and Brian Boyd retained the seats they had won at the previous election.

Arbroath West, Letham and Friockheim

The SNP, Conservatives and independent candidate David Fairweather retained the seats they had won at the previous election while the SNP gained a seat from the Liberal Democrats.

Arbroath East and Lunan

The SNP, Conservatives and independent candidate Lois Speed retained the seats they had won at the previous election.

Montrose and District

The SNP, Conservatives and independent candidate Tommy Stewart retained the seats they had won at the previous election while the SNP gained a seat from independent candidate Mark Salmond.

Aftermath

Following the election, the outgoing Conservative–Liberal Democrat–independent administration was replaced after the SNP group formed a coalition with independent councillors Brian Boyd and David Cheape. At the first meeting of the new council on 24 May 2022, SNP councillor Beth Whiteside was elected as leader of the council – the first woman to hold the role – replacing independent councillor David Fairweather. Cllr Boyd was elected as Provost – the first openly gay man to hold the role – and Cllr Linda Clark was elected deputy Provost. Provost Boyd said the new council should seek to end the "petty politics that have blighted Angus Council in its entirety".

Changes 2022–2027

Arbroath West, Letham and Friockheim by-election

In October 2023, former council leader and Arbroath West, Letham and Friockheim councillor David Fairweather announced his intention to retire from the council. He formally stood down in February 2024 and a by-election was held on 25 April 2024. The seat was won by the Conservative candidate, Jack Cruickshanks.

Notes

References

{{2022 United Kingdom local elections Angus Council elections

Angus Angus may refer to: Media * ''Angus'' (film), a 1995 film * ''Angus Og'' (comics), in the ''Daily Record'' Places Australia * Angus, New South Wales Canada * Angus, Ontario, a community in Essa, Ontario * East Angus, Quebec Scotland * An ...