The 2022 Scottish local elections were held on 5 May 2022, as part of the
2022 United Kingdom local elections
Local elections in the United Kingdom took place on 5 May 2022. These included elections for all London borough councils, for all local authorities in Wales and Scotland. Most seats in England were last up for election in 2018 and in Scotlan ...
. All 1,226 seats across all 32
Scottish local authorities were up for election and
voter turnout
In political science, voter turnout is the participation rate (often defined as those who cast a ballot) of a given election. This can be the percentage of registered voters, eligible voters, or all voting-age people. According to Stanford Univ ...
was 44.8%.
Compared to the
previous elections of 2017, the
Scottish National Party
The Scottish National Party (SNP; sco, Scots National Pairty, gd, Pàrtaidh Nàiseanta na h-Alba ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic political party in Scotland. The SNP supports and campaigns for Scottish independence from ...
(SNP) gained seats and maintained its position as largest party in local government, winning 36.9% of the seats available.
Scottish Labour
Scottish Labour ( gd, Pàrtaidh Làbarach na h-Alba, sco, Scots Labour Pairty; officially the Scottish Labour Party) is a social democratic political party in Scotland. It is an autonomous section of the UK Labour Party. From their peak o ...
(winning 22.9% of seats) gained seats, whilst the
Scottish Conservatives
The Scottish Conservative & Unionist Party ( gd, Pàrtaidh Tòraidheach na h-Alba, sco, Scots Tory an Unionist Pairty), often known simply as the Scottish Conservatives and colloquially as the Scottish Tories, is a centre-right political par ...
(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
The Scottish Liberal Democrats ( gd, Pàrtaidh Libearal Deamocratach na h-Alba, sco, Scots Leeberal Democrats) is a liberal, federalist political party in Scotland, a part of the United Kingdom Liberal Democrats. The party currently holds 4 o ...
and the
Scottish Greens
The Scottish Greens (also known as the Scottish Green Party; gd, Pàrtaidh Uaine na h-Alba ; sco, Scots Green Pairtie) are a green political party in Scotland. The party has seven MSPs in the Scottish Parliament as of May 2021. As of the 202 ...
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
Dundee City Council is the local government authority for the City of Dundee. It was created in 1996 under the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994.
History
Dundee City became a single-tier council in 1996, under the Local Government e ...
, whilst Labour won overall control of
West Dunbartonshire Council. Scottish Conservative leader
Douglas Ross blamed his party's bad results on the
partygate
Partygate was a political scandal in the United Kingdom about parties and other gatherings of government and Conservative Party staff held during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, when public health restrictions prohibited most gathe ...
scandal.
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 la ...
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
File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...
, 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
The 2016 Scottish parliament election was held on Thursday, 5 May 2016 to elect 129 members to the Scottish Parliament. It was the fifth election held since the devolved parliament was established in 1999. It was the first parliamentary electio ...
.
Boundaries Scotland have conducted a review of electoral arrangements for six councils under the terms of the
Islands (Scotland) Act 2018. The
Scottish Parliament
The Scottish Parliament ( gd, Pàrlamaid na h-Alba ; sco, Scots Pairlament) is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. Located in the Holyrood area of the capital city, Edinburgh, it is frequently referred to by the metonym Holy ...
's Local Government Committee accepted the new boundaries in
Na h-Eileanan an Iar
The Outer Hebrides () or Western Isles ( gd, Na h-Eileanan Siar or or ("islands of the strangers"); sco, Waster Isles), sometimes known as the Long Isle/Long Island ( gd, An t-Eilean Fada, links=no), is an Archipelago, island chain off t ...
,
North Ayrshire
North Ayrshire ( gd, Siorrachd Àir a Tuath, ) is one of 32 council areas in Scotland. The council area borders Inverclyde to the north, Renfrewshire and East Renfrewshire to the northeast, and East Ayrshire and South Ayrshire to the east an ...
,
Orkney
Orkney (; sco, Orkney; on, Orkneyjar; nrn, Orknøjar), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated off the north coast of the island of Great Britain. Orkney is 10 miles (16 km) nort ...
and
Shetland
Shetland, also called the Shetland Islands and formerly Zetland, is a subarctic archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands and Norway. It is the northernmost region of the United Kingdom.
The islands lie about to the ...
, but recommended against approval of the changes in
Argyll and Bute
Argyll and Bute ( sco, Argyll an Buit; gd, Earra-Ghàidheal agus Bòd, ) is one of 32 unitary authority council areas in Scotland and a lieutenancy area. The current lord-lieutenant for Argyll and Bute is Jane Margaret MacLeod (14 July 202 ...
and
Highland
Highlands or uplands are areas of high elevation such as a mountainous region, elevated mountainous plateau or high hills. Generally speaking, upland (or uplands) refers to ranges of hills, typically from up to while highland (or highlands) is ...
.
Voting system and eligibility to vote
Councillors are elected to represent multi-member
wards using the
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 p ...
(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
Acts of the Scottish Parliament
See also
* List of Acts of the Scottish Parliament
References
*Current Law Statutes Annotated 2020
{{UK legislation
2020
2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global socia ...
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. 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 citizen
British nationality law prescribes the conditions under which a person is recognised as being a national of the United Kingdom. The six different classes of British nationality each have varying degrees of civil and political rights, due to t ...
s and all other foreign nationals with
leave to remain
Indefinite leave to remain (ILR) or permanent residency (PR) is an immigration status granted to a person who does not hold the right of abode in the United Kingdom (UK), but who has been admitted to the UK without any time limit on their stay ...
, including refugees) who are aged 16 or over on polling day are entitled to vote in the local elections. 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.
Individuals must have been
registered to vote by midnight on 18 April 2022. The deadlines to register for a
postal vote
Postal voting is voting in an election where ballot papers are distributed to electors (and typically returned) by post, in contrast to electors voting in person at a polling station or electronically via an electronic voting system.
In an el ...
and
proxy vote
Proxy voting is a form of voting whereby a member of a decision-making body may delegate their voting power to a representative, to enable a vote in absence. The representative may be another member of the same body, or external. A person so d ...
were 19 and 26 April 2022, respectively.
Results
, - style="background-color:#E9E9E9;
! scope="col" colspan="2" rowspan=2 , Party
! scope="col" colspan="3" , First-preference votes
! scope="col" colspan="2" , Councils
! scope="col" colspan="2" ,
2017 seats
! scope="col" colspan="3" , 2022 seats
, -
! scope="col" , Count
! scope="col" , Of total (%)
! scope="col" , Change
! scope="col" , Count
! scope="col" , Change
! scope="col" , Count
! scope="col" , Of total (%)
! scope="col" , Count
! scope="col" , Of total (%)
! scope="col" , Change
, -
, style="background-color:",
, style="text-align:left;" ,
No overall control
, colspan=3
, 27
, style="background-color:#ffe8e8;", 2
, colspan=2
, colspan=3
, -
, style="background-color:",
, style="text-align:left;" ,
SNP
, 633,252
, 34.1%
, 1.8%
, 1
, style="background-color:#dfd;", 1
, 431
, 37.0%
, 453
, 35.1%
, style="background-color:#dfd;", 22
, -
, style="background-color:",
, style="text-align:left;" ,
Labour
, 403,243
, 21.7%
, 1.6%
, 1
, style="background-color:#dfd;", 1
, 262
, 21.4%
, 281
, 23.1%
, style="background-color:#dfd;", 19
, -
, -
, style="background-color:",
, style="text-align:left;" ,
Conservative
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 ...
, 364,824
, 19.6%
, 5.7%
, 0
,
, 276
, 22.5%
, 214
, 17.5%
, style="background-color:#ffe8e8", 62
, -
, style="background-color:",
, style="text-align:left;" ,
Liberal Democrats
, 159,815
, 8.6%
, 1.7%
, 0
,
, 67
, 5.5%
, 87
, 7.1%
, style="background-color:#dfd;", 20
, -
, style="background-color:",
, style="text-align:left;" ,
Independents
, 156,815
, 8.4%
, 2.0%
, 3
,
, 168
, 14.1%
, 152
, 12.2%
, style="background-color:#ffe8e8;", 15
, -
, style="background-color:",
, style="text-align:left;" ,
Green
Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 Nanometre, nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by ...
, 110,791
, 6.0%
, 1.9%
, 0
,
, 19
, 1.6%
, 35
, 2.9%
, style="background-color:#dfd", 16
, -
, style="background-color:",
, style="text-align:left;" ,
Alba
''Alba'' ( , ) is the Scottish Gaelic name for Scotland. It is also, in English language historiography, used to refer to the polity of Picts and Scots united in the ninth century as the Kingdom of Alba, until it developed into the Kingdom ...
, 12,335
, 0.7%
,
, 0
,
,
,
,
, 0.0%
,
, -
, style="background-color:",
, style="text-align:left;" ,
Scottish Family
A Scottish clan (from Gaelic , literally 'children', more broadly 'kindred') is a kinship group among the Scottish people. Clans give a sense of shared identity and descent to members, and in modern times have an official structure recognised ...
, 6,857
, 0.4%
,
, 0
,
,
,
,
, 0.0%
,
, -
, style="background-color:",
, style="text-align:left;" ,
West Dunbartonshire Community
, 1,462
, 0.1%
,
, 0
,
,
,
, 1
, 0.1%
,
, -
, style="background-color:",
, style="text-align:left;" ,
Scottish Socialist
, 1,058
, 0.1%
, 0.1%
, 0
,
,
,
,
, 0.0%
,
, -
, style="background-color:",
, style="text-align:left;" ,
TUSC
Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) is a socialist electoral alliance launched in Britain for the 2010 general election.
TUSC's co-founder was the RMT union general secretary Bob Crow. Members of the PCS, NUT, FBU and POA uni ...
, 1,022
, 0.1%
,
, 0
,
,
,
,
, 0.0%
,
, -
, style="background-color:",
, style="text-align:left;" ,
British Unionist
, 859
, 0.1%
,
, 0
,
,
,
, 1
, 0.1%
, style=background-color:#dfd, 1
, -
, style="background-color:",
, style="text-align:left;" ,
Rubbish
, 787
, 0.0%
,
, 0
,
,
,
, 1
, 0.1%
,
, -
, style="background-color:",
, style="text-align:left;" ,
Independence for Scotland
, 742
, 0.0%
,
, 0
,
,
,
,
, 0.0%
,
, -
, style="background-color:",
, style="text-align:left;" ,
Libertarian
Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's e ...
, 698
, 0.0%
,
, 0
,
,
,
,
, 0.0%
,
, -
, style="background-color:",
, style="text-align:left;" ,
Freedom Alliance
, 555
, 0.0%
,
, 0
,
,
,
,
, 0.0%
,
, -
, style="background-color:",
, style="text-align:left;" ,
Volt UK
, 421
, 0.0%
,
, 0
,
,
,
,
, 0.0%
,
, -
, style="background-color:",
, style="text-align:left;" ,
Socialist Labour
, 381
, 0.0%
,
, 0
,
,
,
,
, 0.0%
,
, -
, style="background-color:",
, style="text-align:left;" ,
UKIP
The UK Independence Party (UKIP; ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two members of Parliament and was the largest ...
, 372
, 0.0%
, 0.2%
, 0
,
,
,
,
, 0.0%
,
, -
, style="background-color:",
, style="text-align:left;" ,
Women's Equality
Gender equality, also known as sexual equality or equality of the sexes, is the state of equal ease of access to resources and opportunities regardless of gender, including economic participation and decision-making; and the state of valuing d ...
, 228
, 0.0%
,
, 0
,
,
,
,
, 0.0%
,
, -
, style="background-color:",
, style="text-align:left;" ,
Social Democratic
Social democracy is a Political philosophy, political, Social philosophy, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocati ...
, 222
, 0.0%
,
, 0
,
,
,
,
, 0.0%
,
, -
, style="background-color:",
, style="text-align:left;" ,
Sovereignty
Sovereignty is the defining authority within individual consciousness, social construct, or territory. Sovereignty entails hierarchy within the state, as well as external autonomy for states. In any state, sovereignty is assigned to the perso ...
, 154
, 0.0%
,
, 0
,
,
,
,
, 0.0%
,
, -
, style="background-color:",
, style="text-align:left;" ,
Communist
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a ...
, 119
, 0.0%
,
, 0
,
,
,
,
, 0.0%
,
, -
, style="background-color:",
, style="text-align:left;" ,
Pensioner's
, 75
, 0.0%
,
, 0
,
,
,
,
, 0.0%
,
, -
, style="background-color:",
, style="text-align:left;" ,
Vanguard
The vanguard (also called the advance guard) is the leading part of an advancing military formation. It has a number of functions, including seeking out the enemy and securing ground in advance of the main force.
History
The vanguard derives f ...
, 74
, 0.0%
,
, 0
,
,
,
,
, 0.0%
,
, -
, style="background-color:",
, style="text-align:left;" ,
Workers
The workforce or labour force is a concept referring to the pool of human beings either in employment or in unemployment. It is generally used to describe those working for a single company or industry, but can also apply to a geographic r ...
, 61
, 0.0%
,
, 0
,
,
,
,
, 0.0%
,
, -
, style="background-color:",
, style="text-align:left;" ,
Scottish Eco-Federalist
, 24
, 0.0%
,
, 0
,
,
,
,
, 0.0%
,
, - class=sortbottom style="background-color:#E9E9E9; font-weight:bold;"
! colspan="2" style="text-align:left;" , Total
, 1,889,658
, 100.0
, ±0.0
, 32
,
, 1,223
, 1,227
, 1,227
, 100.00
,
Councils
2022 results
The table below shows the number of seats won by each party.
Note that three seats (one in Shetland, two in the Outer Hebrides) remain vacant as there were fewer candidates than seats available in some wards.
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 (*).
2017 results
The table shows the number of councillors won by each party in the
2017 Scottish local elections
The 2017 Scottish local elections were held on Thursday 4 May, in all 32 local authorities. The SNP retained its position as the largest party in terms of votes and councillors, despite suffering minor losses. The Conservatives made gains and di ...
.
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.
Opinion polling
See also
*
2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election
The 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election was held on 5 May 2022. It elected 90 members to the Northern Ireland Assembly. It was the seventh assembly election since the establishment of the assembly in 1998. The election was held three months ...
*
2022 United Kingdom local elections
Local elections in the United Kingdom took place on 5 May 2022. These included elections for all London borough councils, for all local authorities in Wales and Scotland. Most seats in England were last up for election in 2018 and in Scotlan ...
*
2022 Welsh local elections
The 2022 Welsh local elections are due to be held on 5 May 2022 to elect members of all twenty-two local authorities in Wales. They are being held alongside other local elections in the United Kingdom. The last elections were held in 2017.
Bac ...
*
Politics of Scotland
The politics of Scotland operate within the constitution of the United Kingdom, of which Scotland is a home nation. Scotland is a democracy, being represented in both the Scottish Parliament and the Parliament of the United Kingdom since the ...
Notes
References
External links
Scotland council elections 2022: A really simple guide BBC News
BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...
.
{{2022 United Kingdom local elections
2022
File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeyp ...
2022 United Kingdom local elections