The 2012 Scottish local elections were held on 3 May 2012 in all 32

local authorities Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state. Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of a higher-level political or administrative unit, such a ...

. The

Scottish National Party The Scottish National Party (SNP; ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic party. The party holds 61 of the 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament, and holds 9 out of the 57 Scottish seats in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, ...

(SNP) overtook Labour to win the highest share of the vote, and retained and strengthened its position as the party with most councillors. Labour also made gains, while the Liberal Democrats experienced meltdown, losing over half their seats and falling behind the

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

. For the first time since the introduction of the

Single Transferable Vote The single transferable vote (STV) or proportional-ranked choice voting (P-RCV) is a multi-winner electoral system in which each voter casts a single vote in the form of a ranked ballot. Voters have the option to rank candidates, and their vot ...

system, the SNP won majority control of 2 councils, from

no overall control In the context of local authorities in the United Kingdom no overall control (NOC; ) is a situation in which no single political group achieves a majority of seats, comparable to a hung parliament. Of the 248 councils who had members up for elec ...

. Labour also won majority control of 2 councils from no overall control, while retaining majority control over 2 councils. Independent councillors retained majority control over the 3 island councils. The 23 other councils remained under no overall control.

Background

The election was due to be held on 5 May 2011, but

Scottish Ministers The Scottish Government (, ) is the executive arm of the devolved government of Scotland. It was formed in 1999 as the Scottish Executive following the 1997 referendum on Scottish devolution, and is headquartered at St Andrew's House in t ...

heeded the advice of the Gould Report and split the Holyrood and local elections - in order to avoid a repeat of the 2007 fiasco. These local elections were the second since the

(STV) was first introduced for the 2007 local government elections. This election was the first since the SNP won a majority in the Scottish Parliament. They were also the first local elections in Scotland since

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

not to take place at the same time as a Scottish parliamentary election.

New eCounting system

In October 2010 a new company -

Logica Logica plc was a Multinational corporation, multinational information technology, IT and Management consulting, management consultancy company headquartered in London and later Reading, Berkshire, Reading, United Kingdom. Founded in 1969, the c ...

was awarded the contract for the vote counting system for the 2012 council elections, and since January 2011 testing has been under way to sort out many issues. On the 5 August 2011, A Dummy election was set up in Perth to test out new "eCounting" system, as part of robust test, in which 160,000 ballot papers run through the machine. This forms third stage of rigorous testing of the system in partition of these elections.

Party performance

Both the SNP and Labour performed well, increasing both share of the vote and their numbers of councillors. The SNP gained control of two councils from

No Overall Control In the context of local authorities in the United Kingdom no overall control (NOC; ) is a situation in which no single political group achieves a majority of seats, comparable to a hung parliament. Of the 248 councils who had members up for elec ...

Angus Angus may refer to: *Angus, Scotland, a council area of Scotland, and formerly a province, sheriffdom, county and district of Scotland * Angus, Canada, a community in Essa, Ontario Animals * Angus cattle, various breeds of beef cattle Media * ...

and

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

. Labour gained majority control over two councils,

Renfrewshire Renfrewshire () (; ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. Renfrewshire is located in the west central Lowlands. It borders East Renfrewshire, Glasgow, Inverclyde, North Ayrshire and West Dunbartonshire, and lies on the southern ba ...

and

West Dunbartonshire West Dunbartonshire (; , ) is one of the 32 Local government in Scotland, local government council areas of Scotland. The area lies to the north-west of the Glasgow City council area and contains many of Glasgow's commuter towns and villages. ...

, also from No Overall Control, and held on to their overall majority in both

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

and

North Lanarkshire North Lanarkshire (; ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the north-east of the Glasgow City council area and contains many of Glasgow's suburbs, commuter towns, and villages. It also borders East Dunbartonshire, Falkirk (co ...

councils. The

lost significant ground, but did gain a seat in Argyll & Bute and managed to come third. The Liberal Democrats continued to experience a political meltdown following on from the previous year's Scottish elections, losing 57% of their councillors. In the Edinburgh ward of Pentland Hills, Mike 'Professor Pongoo' Ferrigan, who dressed as a penguin to council meetings, received 444 first-preference votes, 74 more than the Liberal Democrat candidate, Stuart Bridges, and 122 more than the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice. Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...

candidate. In Edinburgh, where the Liberal Democrats had previously been in a ruling coalition with the SNP, they lost 13 of their 16 seats. In the Fife Council ward of Buckhaven, Methil and Wemyss Villages, the party's candidate, Lois Lothian, received just 21 votes. The Greens boosted their councillor numbers from 8 to 14, including doubling their representation in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

(where they topped the poll in two wards for the first time) and electing councillors for the first time to

Stirling Stirling (; ; ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in Central Belt, central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town#Scotland, market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the roya ...

Midlothian Midlothian (; ) is registration county, lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area and one of 32 council areas of Scotland used for local government. Midlothian lies in the east-central Lowlands, bordering the City of Edinburgh council ar ...

and

Aberdeenshire Aberdeenshire (; ) is one of the 32 Subdivisions of Scotland#council areas of Scotland, council areas of Scotland. It takes its name from the Shires of Scotland, historic county of Aberdeenshire (historic), Aberdeenshire, which had substantial ...

local authorities (note: Cllr Martin Ford, re-elected in 2012 as a Green, won in 2007 as a Liberal Democrat). The

Scottish Socialist Party The Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) is a Left-wing politics, left-wing political party campaigning for the establishment of an Scottish independence, independent Socialism, socialist Scottish Scottish republicanism, republic. The party was fou ...

held its sole seat, that of Jim Bollan in

. Meanwhile, the

UK Independence Party 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 (both through defect ...

lost its sole councillor in Scotland on Fife Council. Independent councillors retained majority control over the three island councils (

Na h-Eileanan Siar The Outer Hebrides ( ) or Western Isles ( , or ), sometimes known as the Long Isle or Long Island (), is an Archipelago, island chain off the west coast of mainland Scotland. It is the longest archipelago in the British Isles. The islan ...

Orkney Orkney (), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago off the north coast of mainland Scotland. The plural name the Orkneys is also sometimes used, but locals now consider it outdated. Part of the Northern Isles along with Shetland, ...

and

Shetland Shetland (until 1975 spelled Zetland), also called the Shetland Islands, is an archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands, and Norway, marking the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. The islands lie about to the ...

Aftermath

Talks took place to decide who would control of the 23 remaining councils This resulted in Labour taking control of Fife, East and West Lothian, Inverclyde and South Lanarkshire and forming a grand coalition with the SNP in the City of Edinburgh and an anti-Conservative alliance in East Renfrewshire. The SNP took control of Clackmannanshire, North Ayrshire and Perth and Kinross and became the largest party in controlling coalitions in Argyll and Bute, Highland, Midlothian, Scottish Borders and East Ayrshire. They also joined the Scottish Conservatives in a coalition arrangement in Dumfries and Galloway.

Results

, -style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:center;" !colspan="2" rowspan="2" width="175", Party !colspan="3", First-preference votes !colspan="3", Seats won , -style="background-color:#E9E9E9" !width="75", # !% !Swing ( pp) !width="35", # !Net Gain !% , - style="text-align:right;" , style="background-color:", , style="text-align:left;" , SNP , 503,233 , 32.33 , style="background-color:#dfd" , +4.48 , 425 , style="background-color:#dfd" , +62 , 34.75 , - style="text-align:right;" , style="background-color:", , style="text-align:left;" , Labour , 488,703 , 31.39 , style="background-color:#dfd" , +3.26 , 394 , style="background-color:#dfd" , +46 , 32.22 , - style="text-align:right;" , style="background-color:", , style="text-align:left;" ,

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

, 206,599 , 13.27 , style="background-color:#ffe8e8;" , −2.35 , 115 , style="background-color:#ffe8e8;" , −28 , 9.40 , - style="text-align:right;" , style="background-color:", , style="text-align:left;" , Independents , 183,329 , 11.78 , style="background-color:#dfd" , +1.27 , 196 , style="background-color:#dfd" , +12 , 16.03 , - style="text-align:right;" , style="background-color:", , style="text-align:left;" , Liberal Democrats , 103,087 , 6.62 , style="background-color:#ffe8e8;" , −6.05 , 71 , style="background-color:#ffe8e8;" , −95 , 5.81 , - style="text-align:right;" , 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 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a com ...

, 36,000 , 2.31 , style="background-color:#dfd" , +0.11 , 14 , style="background-color:#dfd" , +6 , 1.14 , - style="text-align:right;" , 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 Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), member ...

, 4,289 , 0.28 , style="background-color:#dfd" , +0.22 , 0 , ±0 , 0.00 , - style="text-align:right;" , style="background-color:", , style="text-align:left;" , Scottish Socialist , 4,183 , 0.27 , style="background-color:#ffe8e8;" , −0.61 , 1 , ±0 , 0.08 , - style="text-align:right;" , style="background-color:", , style="text-align:left;" , Borders Party , 3,755 , 0.24 , style="background-color:#dfd" , +0.12 , 2 , ±0 , 0.16 , - style="text-align:right;" , , style="text-align:left;" , Action to Save St John's Hospital , 3,474 , 0.22 , style="background-color:#dfd" , +0.03 , 0 , style="background-color:#ffe8e8;" , −3 , 0.00 , - style="text-align:right;" , , style="text-align:left;" , East Dunbartonshire Independent Alliance , 2,973 , 0.19 , style="background-color:#ffe8e8;" , −0.09 , 2 , ±0 , 0.16 , - style="text-align:right;" , style="background-color:", , style="text-align:left;" , Glasgow First , 2,547 , 0.16 , style="background-color:#dfd" , +0.16 , 1 , style="background-color:#dfd" , +1 , 0.08 , - style="text-align:right;" , style="background-color:", , style="text-align:left;" , TUSC , 2,485 , 0.16 , style="background-color:#dfd" , +0.16 , 0 , ±0 , 0.00 , - style="text-align:right;" , style="background-color:", , style="text-align:left;" , Christian Party , 2,344 , 0.15 , style="background-color:#dfd" , +0.12 , 0 , ±0 , 0.00 , - style="text-align:right;" , style="background-color:", , style="text-align:left;" , All Scotland Pensioners Party , 2,328 , 0.15 , style="background-color:#dfd" , +0.08 , 0 , ±0 , 0.00 , - style="text-align:right;" , , style="text-align:left;" , Cumbernauld Independent Alliance , 1,894 , 0.12 , style="background-color:#dfd" , +0.02 , 1 , ±0 , 0.08 , - style="text-align:right;" , style="background-color:", , style="text-align:left;" , Unionist , 864 , 0.06 , style="background-color:#ffe8e8;" , −0.09 , 0 , ±0 , 0.00 , - style="text-align:right;" , , style="text-align:left;" , Perth Independent Candidates , 805 , 0.05 , style="background-color:#dfd" , +0.05 , 1 , style="background-color:#dfd" , +1 , 0.08 , - style="text-align:right;" , style="background-color:", , style="text-align:left;" ,

Solidarity Solidarity or solidarism is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes. True solidarity means moving beyond individual identities and single issue politics ...

, 787 , 0.05 , style="background-color:#ffe8e8;" , −0.81 , 0 , style="background-color:#ffe8e8;" , −1 , 0.00 , - style="text-align:right;" , style="background-color:", , style="text-align:left;" , Socialist Labour Party , 714 , 0.05 , style="background-color:#dfd" , +0.03 , 0 , ±0 , 0.00 , - style="text-align:right;" , , style="text-align:left;" , East Kilbride Alliance , 681 , 0.04 , style="background-color:#ffe8e8;" , −0.03 , 0 , ±0 , 0.00 , - style="text-align:right;" , style="background-color:", , style="text-align:left;" , Liberal , 595 , 0.04 , style="background-color:#ffe8e8;" , −0.02 , 0 , ±0 , 0.00 , - style="text-align:right;" , style="background-color:", , style="text-align:left;" , National Front , 369 , 0.02 , style="background-color:#dfd" , +0.02 , 0 , ±0 , 0.00 , - style="text-align:right;" , style="background-color:", , style="text-align:left;" ,

Pirate Party Pirate Party is a label adopted by various Political party, political parties worldwide that share a set of values and policies focused on Civil and political rights, civil rights in the digital age. The fundamental principles of Pirate Partie ...

, 292 , 0.02 , style="background-color:#dfd" , +0.02 , 0 , ±0 , 0.00 , - style="text-align:right;" , style="background-color:", , style="text-align:left;" ,

Christian Peoples Alliance The Christian Peoples Alliance (CPA) is a minor Christian right political party in the United Kingdom. The party was founded in its present form in 1999, having grown out of a cross-party advocacy group called the Movement for Christian Democrac ...

, 209 , 0.01 , style="background-color:#dfd" , +0.01 , 0 , ±0 , 0.00 , - style="text-align:right;" , style="background-color:", , style="text-align:left;" , Communist Party of Britain , 94 , <0.01 , style="background-color:#dfd" , +0.01 , 0 , ±0 , 0.00 , - style="text-align:right;" , , style="text-align:left;" , Britannica , 73 , <0.01 , , 0 , ±0 , 0.00 , - style="text-align:right;" , style="background-color:", , style="text-align:left;" ,

Official Monster Raving Loony Party The Official Monster Raving Loony Party (OMRLP) is a political party established in the United Kingdom in 1982 by the musician David Sutch, also known as Screaming Lord Sutch, 3rd Earl of Harrow, or simply Lord Sutch. It is notable for its de ...

, 67 , <0.01 , , 0 , ±0 , 0.00 , -style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" ! colspan="2" style="text-align:left;" , Total !1,556,773 !100.00 ! ±0.00 !1,223 ! +1 ! 100.00 Note: The net gain/loss and percentage change in number of votes relates to the result of the previous Scottish local elections on 3 May 2007. This differs from the table in the reference above which shows gain/loss relative to seats held at dissolution of Scotland's councils.

Analysis

Councils

, NOC (Ind + LD + Lab) , (SNP + LD + Lab) , Details , - ! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" ,

Inverclyde Inverclyde (, , , "mouth of the Clyde") is one of 32 council areas used for local government in Scotland. Together with the East Renfrewshire and Renfrewshire council areas, Inverclyde forms part of the historic county of Renfrewshire, which ...

, (Lab minority) , , (Lab minority) , Details , - ! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" ,

, (Lab minority) , Labour , (SNP + Green + Ind) , Details , - ! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" ,

Moray Moray ( ; or ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It lies in the north-east of the country, with a coastline on the Moray Firth, and borders the council areas of Aberdeenshire and Highland. Its council is based in Elgin, the area' ...

, (Ind + Con) , , (Ind + Con) , Details , - ! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" ,

, , , , Details , - ! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" ,

North Ayrshire North Ayrshire (, ) is one of 32 Council areas of Scotland, 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 and s ...

, (Lab minority) , , (SNP minority) , Details , - ! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" ,

, , Labour , , Details , - ! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" ,

, , , , Details , - ! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" ,

Perth and Kinross Perth and Kinross (; ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, and a Lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area. It is bordered by Highland (council area), Highland and Aberdeenshire to the north, Angus, Scotland, Angus, Dundee, and F ...

, (SNP + LD) , , (SNP minority) , Details , - ! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" ,

, (SNP + LD) , , , Details , - ! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" ,

Scottish Borders The Scottish Borders is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It is bordered by West Lothian, Edinburgh, Midlothian, and East Lothian to the north, the North Sea to the east, Dumfries and Galloway to the south-west, South Lanarkshire to the we ...

, (Con + LD + Ind) , , (SNP + Ind + LD) , Details , - ! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" ,

, , , , Details , - ! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" ,

South Ayrshire South Ayrshire (; , ) is one of thirty-two council areas of Scotland, covering the southern part of Ayrshire. It borders onto Dumfries and Galloway, East Ayrshire and North Ayrshire. South Ayrshire had an estimated population in 2021 of 112,45 ...

, (Con + Lab + Ind) , , (Con + Lab + Ind) , Details , - ! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" ,

South Lanarkshire South Lanarkshire (; ) is one of 32 unitary authorities of Scotland. It borders the south-east of the Glasgow City council area and contains some of Greater Glasgow's suburban towns, as well as many rural towns and villages. It also shares bor ...

, (Lab + LD + Con) , , (Lab minority) , Details , - ! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" ,

, (Lab minority) , NOC (SNP minority) , (Lab + Con) , Details , - ! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" ,

, (SNP + Ind) , , , Details , - ! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" ,

West Lothian West Lothian (; ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, bordering (in a clockwise direction) the City of Edinburgh council area, Scottish Borders, South Lanarkshire, North Lanarkshire and Falkirk (council area), Falkirk. The modern counci ...

, (SNP + Ind) , , (Lab minority) , Details Name of party shows the largest group within each council. However, the party names in brackets identify members of a coalition leading the council. In some cases, the largest party is shown, but is not in charge of the council.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scottish Local Elections, 2012

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

Local Local may refer to: Geography and transportation * Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand * Local, Missouri, a community in the United States Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Local'' (comics), a limited series comic book by Bria ...

May 2012 in the United Kingdom

Background

New eCounting system

Party performance

Aftermath

Results

Analysis

Councils

Further reading

Notes

References