2017 Scottish local elections

2017 Scottish local elections

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All 1,227 seats[1] to 32 Scottish councils
Turnout	46.9% (7.3%)
First party Second party   Leader Nicola Sturgeon Ruth Davidson Party SNP Conservative Leader since 14 November 2014 4 November 2011 Last election 425 seats, 32.33% 115 seats, 13.27% Seats before 438[2] 112[2] Seats won 431 276 Seat change 7*[3] 164*[3] First preferences 610,454 478,073 First preferences (%) 32.30% 25.30% Swing (pp) 0.03% 12.03%   Third party Fourth party   Leader Kezia Dugdale Willie Rennie Party Labour Liberal Democrats Leader since 15 August 2015 17 May 2011 Last election 394 seats, 31.39% 71 seats, 6.62% Seats before 395[2] 70[2] Seats won 262 67 Seat change 133*[3] 3*[3] First preferences 380,957 128,821 First preferences (%) 20.16% 6.82% Swing (pp) 11.23% 0.20%
Popular vote by council areas. Council controls post elections
Most voted for party by council, largest party by council, and largest party by ward. Ward map utilises the new ward boundaries. * Indicates boundary change - so this is a nominal figure

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 displaced Labour as the second largest party, while the Liberal Democrats suffered a net loss of councillors despite increasing their share of the vote.^[4] Minor parties and independents polled well; and independent councillors retained majority control over the three island councils. For the first time since the local government reforms in 1995, all mainland councils fell under no overall control.

The previous election was in 2012. Normally these elections take place every four years, but this election was postponed for a year in order to avoid conflicting with the 2016 Scottish Parliament election.

Once again the local elections, held under the Single Transferable Vote system, were counted electronically, using the same system used in 2012. The tender was awarded to CGI (formerly Logica) and Idox Elections (formerly Opt2vote), both of which delivered the 2012 elections successfully.^{[citation needed]}

All registered electors (British, Irish, Commonwealth and European Union citizens) who were aged 16 or over on polling day were entitled to vote in the local elections.^[5][6] A person who had two homes (such as a university student who has a term-time address and lives at home during holidays) could register to vote at both addresses as long as they are not in the same electoral area and can vote for two different councils, albeit only in two different local elections; however, it is an offence to vote twice in the same type of election and doing so may incur a fine of up to £5,000.^[7]

Individuals must have registered to vote by midnight twelve working days before polling day (17 April 2017).^[8] Anyone who qualified as an anonymous elector had until midnight on 25 April 2017 to register.^[9]

Following the election, SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon played down the threat posed by the Conservatives to her party, asserting that the good performance by the Conservatives was on account of Labour support going to the Conservatives and not because of any shift in SNP voters.^[10]

Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson asserted a "Scottish fightback against the SNP" and said that the results represented a resurgence for the Conservatives, despite the fact that the SNP's 1st preference vote percentage had not changed since the 2012 election.^[11]

Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale admitted the results were disappointing for her party, while the Scottish Liberal Democrats leader Willie Rennie said the council results showed his party could stand against the SNP tide in key northern constituencies.^[12]

The Scottish Conservatives returned the most councillors, the first time it has been the largest party in the region since the 1982 election, when the area was under the Grampian Regional Council, although they were stopped short of an overall majority. The number of Scottish National Party councillors fell by a quarter but remained the second largest group. The Scottish Liberal Democrats picked up a couple of seats while the other parties gained roughly the same results as the previous election.

On 18 May, the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and Aligned Independents formed an administration, with Jim Gifford (Conservative) elected as council leader and Bill Howatson (Liberal Democrat) was made Provost.^[13]

The SNP became the largest party on the council for the first time, as the Independent group lost a third of its seats compared to the previous election. The Conservatives gained five seats and the Liberal Democrats gained two, but both remained in their respective places as the two smaller parties.

Despite the SNP's position, a coalition was formed of Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and Independents, referred to as The Argyll Lomond and the Isles Group (TALIG). Aileen Morton, leader of the group, was elected as council leader.^[14]

The Scottish National Party replaced Scottish Labour as the largest party for the first time in the Fife region, although they did not gain enough seats to form a majority. The Scottish Conservatives made the most gains, replacing the Scottish Liberal Democrats as the third biggest party. The election also returned no Independent councillors, marking the first time the area will be without any Independent representation since the creation of Fife Regional Council in 1974.

On 18 May, the two largest parties of the new council, the SNP and Scottish Labour, signed a Power Sharing Agreement to co-run an administration. David Alexander (SNP) and David Ross (Labour) were made co-leaders, and Jim Leishman remained in his role as Provost.^[15]

The SNP replaced Labour as the biggest party; although without a majority it ended Labour's 37-year-long control of the council.^[16] The Conservatives increased its number of councillors from 1 to 8, their highest since 1984, while the Scottish Green Party also made a couple of gains to reach their highest ever level in Glasgow. This council is the first without any Liberal representation since 1974.

The SNP took control of the council as a minority administration with SNP members filling the positions of council leader, depute council leader, and Lord Provost.^[17]

Summary of the 4 May 2017 Scottish council election results^[33][34]

Party		First-preference votes			Councils	+/-	2012 seats		2017 seats		Seat change
							Seats won	Notional	Seats won	Seat %	vs Notional
	SNP	610,454	32.3%	0.0%	0	1	425	438	431	35.1%	7
	Conservative	478,073	25.3%	12.0%	0		115	112	276	22.5%	164
	Labour	380,957	20.2%	11.4%	0	3	394	395	262	21.4%	133
	Independents	196,438	10.4%	1.4%	3		196	198	168	14.1%	30
	Liberal Democrats	130,243	6.9%	0.3%	0		71	70	67	5.5%	3
	Green	77,682	4.1%	1.8%	0		14	14	19	1.6%	5
	Orkney Manifesto Group	894	0.0%		0				2	0.1%	New
	West Dunbartonshire Community	2,413	0.1%		0				1	0.1%	New
	The Rubbish Party	784	0.0%		0				1	0.1%	New
	UKIP	2,920	0.2%	0.1%	0					0.0%
	Independent Alliance North Lanarkshire	2,823	0.2%		0					0.0%
	TUSC	1,403	0.1%		0					0.0%
	A Better Britain – Unionist Party	1,196	0.1%		0					0.0%
	Scottish Socialist	928	0.0%	0.3%	0		1		0	0.0%	1
	Solidarity	883	0.0%		0					0.0%
	Libertarian	776	0.0%		0					0.0%
	RISE	186	0.0%		0					0.0%
	Scottish Independent Network	145	0.0%		0					0.0%
	Scottish Unionist	129	0.0%		0					0.0%
	Social Democratic	112	0.0%		0					0.0%
	Scottish Christian	104	0.0%		0					0.0%
	Socialist Labour	76	0.0%		0					0.0%
	National Front	39	0.0%		0					0.0%
	No Overall Control	—	—	—	29	4	—	—	—	—	—
Total		1,889,658	100.0	±0.0	32		1,223	1,227	1,227	100.00

The table has been arranged according to popular vote, not the number of seats won.

Prior to the 2017 elections, changes were made to council ward boundaries in 25 council areas. This meant that comparisons with the actual results from 2012 were inaccurate due to a small increase in the total number of seats (from 1,223 to 1,227), different boundaries, and some wards having their number of councillors adjusted. These changes led BBC News, using work done by Professor David Denver of Lancaster University, to estimate what the results would have been in 2012 if the new boundaries and seat numbers had been in place for that election.^[3][35]

• 2017 United Kingdom local elections
• 2017 Welsh local elections
• 2017 Northern Ireland Assembly election

• Curtice, John (2022). "The Power of Preferences: STV in Scottish Local Elections" (PDF). Electoral Reform Society.

• Elections Scotland summary of results Archived 2019-07-05 at the Wayback Machine
• Scottish Council election May 2017