The 2003 Scottish local elections were held on 1 May 2003, the same day as
Scottish Parliament elections and
local elections
In many parts of the world, local elections take place to select office-holders in local government, such as mayors and councillors. Elections to positions within a city or town are often known as "municipal elections". Their form and conduct vary ...
in parts of
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. All 32 Scottish
councils had all their seats up for election – all Scottish councils are
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 governme ...
.
This was the last election for local government in
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...
to use the
first past the post
In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast thei ...
electoral system.
Boundary changes
Minor council boundary took place to better reflect certain areas:
* Transfer of properties at Blackburn from Aberdeen City Council to Aberdeenshire Council
* Transfer of an area of land at West Farm, Broxburn from City of Edinburgh Council to West Lothian Council
* Transfer of an area of land and properties at Ardoch Sewage Works from Argyll & Bute Council to West Dunbartonshire Council
* Transfer of an area of land at Braehead from Glasgow City Council to Renfrewshire Council
Results
, -
!colspan=2, Parties
!Votes
!Votes %
!+/-
!Wards
!Net
Gain/Loss
, -
,
, 611,843, , 32.6, , −3.7%, , 509, , −42
, -
,
, 451,660, , 24.1, , −4.6%, , 181, , −23
, -
,
, 282,895, , 15.1, , +1.6%, , 122, , +14
, -
,
, 272,057, , 14.5, , +1.9%, , 175, , +18
, -
,
, 189,749, , 10.1, , +3.0%, , 230, , +39
, -
, style="width: 10px" style="background-color:" ,
, style="text-align: left;" scope="row" , Other
, 67,533, , 3.6, , +2.0%, , 4, , −6
, -
!colspan=2, Total!!1,875,737!! !! !! 1,222!!
Councils
Notes and references
{{DEFAULTSORT:Scottish Local Elections, 2003
2003
Local elections, Local elections
May 2003 events in the United Kingdom