The 2022 Scottish local elections were held on 5 May 2022, as part of the 2022 United Kingdom local elections. 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 is typically either the percentage of Voter registration, registered voters, Suffrage, eligible voters, or all Voti ...

was 44.8%. Compared to the previous elections of 2017, 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) gained seats and maintained its position as largest party in local government, winning 36.9% of the seats available.

Scottish Labour Scottish Labour (), is the part of the UK Labour Party (UK), Labour Party active in Scotland. Ideologically social democratic and Unionism in the United Kingdom, unionist, it holds 23 of 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament and 37 of 57 Sco ...

(winning 22.9% of seats) gained seats, whilst the

Scottish Conservatives The Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party (), known as Scottish Tories, is part of the UK Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party active in Scotland. It currently holds 5 of the 57 Scottish seats in the House of Commons of the United Ki ...

(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 () is a liberal, federalist political party in Scotland, part of UK Liberal Democrats. The party holds 5 of the 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament, 6 of the 57 Scottish seats in the House of Commons and 86 of 1 ...

and the

Scottish Greens The Scottish Greens (also known as the Scottish Green Party; ) are a green political party in Scotland. The party has 7 MSPs of 129 in the Scottish Parliament, the party holds 35 of the 1226 councillors at Scottish local Government level. The ...

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 in Scotland, local authority for Dundee City council area, Dundee City, one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. In its modern form it was created in 1996. Dundee was formerly governed by a municipal c ...

, whilst Labour won overall control of West Dunbartonshire Council. Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross blamed his party's bad results on the partygate scandal. The Alba Party 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 The British Unionist Party (BUP) is a Scottish unionist political party founded in December 2015 as A Better Britain – Unionist Party by activists from the Better Together (campaign), Better Together campaign against Scottish independence. Unlik ...

gained their first seat from the Conservatives.

Background

The last election was in

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

, 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 Next Scottish Parliament election, election held since the devolved parliament was established in 1999. It ...

. 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 ( ; ) is the Devolution in the United Kingdom, devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. It is located in the Holyrood, Edinburgh, Holyrood area of Edinburgh, and is frequently referred to by the metonym 'Holyrood'. ...

's Local Government Committee accepted the new boundaries in Na h-Eileanan an Iar,

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 ...

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 ...

, but recommended against approval of the changes in

Argyll and Bute Argyll and Bute (; , ) is one of 32 unitary authority, unitary council areas of Scotland, council areas in Scotland and a lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area. The current lord-lieutenant for Argyll and Bute is Jane Margaret MacLeod ...

and

Highland Highlands or uplands are areas of high elevation such as a mountainous region, elevated mountainous plateau or high hills. Generally, ''upland'' refers to a range of hills, typically from up to , while ''highland'' is usually reserved for range ...

Voting system and eligibility to vote

Councillors are elected to represent multi-member wards using 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 ...

(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 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 The primary law governing nationality in the United Kingdom is the British Nationality Act 1981, which came into force on 1 January 1983. Regulations apply to the British Islands, which include the UK itself (England, Wales, Scotland, and Nor ...

s and all other foreign nationals with leave to remain, 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 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 ...

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="3", 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", Change , - , style="color:inherit;background-color:", , style="text-align:left;", SNP , 633,251 , 34.1% , 1.8% , 1 , 1 , 453 , 37.0% , 22 , - , style="color:inherit;background-color:", , style="text-align:left;", Labour , 403,243 , 21.7% , 1.6% , 1 , 1 , 282 , 23.1% , 20 , - , style="color:inherit;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 ...

, 364,824 , 19.6% , 5.7% , 0 , , 214 , 17.5% , 62 , - , style="color:inherit;background-color:", , style="text-align:left;", Independents , 156,751 , 8.4% , 2.0% , 3 , , 149 , 12.2% , 19 , - , style="color:inherit;background-color:", , style="text-align:left;", Liberal Democrats , 159,815 , 8.6% , 1.7% , 0 , , 87 , 7.1% , 20 , - , style="color:inherit;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 ...

, 110,791 , 6.0% , 1.9% , 0 , , 35 , 2.9% , 16 , - , style="color:inherit;background-color:", , style="text-align:left;", West Dunbartonshire Community , 1,462 , 0.1% , , 0 , , 1 , 0.1% , , - , style="color:inherit;background-color:", , style="text-align:left;", BUP , 859 , 0.1% , , 0 , , 1 , 0.1% , 1 , - , style="color:inherit;background-color:", , style="text-align:left;", Rubbish , 787 , 0.0% , , 0 , , 1 , 0.1% , , - , style="color:inherit;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 Kingd ...

, 12,335 , 0.7% , ''New'' , 0 , , 0 , 0.0% , ''New'' , - , style="color:inherit;background-color:", , style="text-align:left;", Scottish Family , 6,857 , 0.4% , ''New'' , 0 , , 0 , 0.0% , ''New'' , - , style="color:inherit;background-color:", , style="text-align:left;", Scottish Socialist , 1,058 , 0.1% , 0.1% , 0 , , 0 , 0.0% , , - , style="color:inherit;background-color:", , style="text-align:left;", TUSC , 1,022 , 0.1% , , 0 , , 0 , 0.0% , , - , style="color:inherit;background-color:", , style="text-align:left;", Independence for Scotland , 742 , 0.0% , ''New'' , 0 , , 0 , 0.0% , ''New'' , - , style="color:inherit;background-color:", , style="text-align:left;",

Libertarian Libertarianism (from ; or from ) is a political philosophy that holds freedom, personal sovereignty, and liberty as primary values. Many libertarians believe that the concept of freedom is in accord with the Non-Aggression Principle, according ...

, 698 , 0.0% , , 0 , , 0 , 0.0% , , - , style="color:inherit;background-color:", , style="text-align:left;", Freedom Alliance , 555 , 0.0% , ''New'' , 0 , , 0 , 0.0% , ''New'' , - , style="color:inherit;background-color:", , style="text-align:left;", Volt UK , 421 , 0.0% , ''New'' , 0 , , 0 , 0.0% , ''New'' , - , style="color:inherit;background-color:", , style="text-align:left;", Socialist Labour , 381 , 0.0% , , 0 , , 0 , 0.0% , , - , style="color:inherit;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 ...

, 372 , 0.0% , 0.2% , 0 , , 0 , 0.0% , , - , style="color:inherit;background-color:", , style="text-align:left;",

Women's Equality Gender equality, also known as sexual equality, gender egalitarianism, 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, an ...

, 228 , 0.0% , ''New'' , 0 , , 0 , 0.0% , ''New'' , - , style="color:inherit;background-color:", , style="text-align:left;",

Social Democratic Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

, 222 , 0.0% , , 0 , , 0 , 0.0% , , - , style="color:inherit;background-color:", , style="text-align:left;",

Sovereignty Sovereignty can generally be defined as supreme authority. Sovereignty entails hierarchy within a state as well as external autonomy for states. In any state, sovereignty is assigned to the person, body or institution that has the ultimate au ...

, 154 , 0.0% , ''New'' , 0 , , 0 , 0.0% , ''New'' , - , style="color:inherit;background-color:", , style="text-align:left;",

Communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

, 119 , 0.0% , ''New'' , 0 , , 0 , 0.0% , ''New'' , - , style="color:inherit;background-color:", , style="text-align:left;", Pensioner's , 75 , 0.0% , ''New'' , 0 , , 0 , 0.0% , ''New'' , - , style="color:inherit;background-color:", , style="text-align:left;",

Vanguard The vanguard (sometimes abbreviated to van and 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. ...

, 74 , 0.0% , ''New'' , 0 , , 0 , 0.0% , ''New'' , - , style="color:inherit;background-color:", , style="text-align:left;", Workers , 61 , 0.0% , ''New'' , 0 , , 0 , 0.0% , ''New'' , - , style="color:inherit;background-color:", , style="text-align:left;", Scottish Eco-Federalist , 24 , 0.0% , ''New'' , 0 , , 0 , 0.0% , ''New'' , - , style="color:inherit;background-color:", , style="text-align:left;", Vacant seats , colspan=5 , 3 , 0.0% , 3 , - , style="color:inherit;background-color:", , style="text-align:left;",

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 ...

, colspan=3 , 27 , , 2 , colspan=3 , - class=sortbottom !colspan="2" style="text-align:left;", Total !1,857,181 !100.0 ! !32 ! !1,226 !100.00 !

Councils

Opinion polling

Notes

References

External links

Scotland council elections 2022: A really simple guide

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. {{2022 United Kingdom local elections

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2022 United Kingdom local elections