2012 Scottish local elections

none April 2022 2012 Scottish local elections Scotland parliamentary no 2007 Scottish local elections 2007 2017 Scottish local elections 2017 All 1,223 seats to 32 Scottish councils yes 2012 05 03 39.6% (13.2%)http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefingsAndFactsheets/S4/SB12-38.pdf SPICe Briefing: Local government elections 2012 Greig Liddell Ross Burnside Allan Campbell Francesca McGrath Iain McIver 8 June 2012 SPICe 11 First preferences First preferences (%) Swing (pp) Alex Salmond, First Minister of Scotland (cropped).jpg 120 120 160 0 0 Alex Salmond 3 September 2004 Scottish National Party 363 seats, 27.9% 425 62 503,233 32.33% 4.48% JohannLamontMSP20110511.JPG 135 120 160 0 10 Johann Lamont 17 December 2011 Scottish Labour 348 seats, 28.1% 394 46 488,703 31.39% 3.26% Ruth Davidson 2012 (cropped).jpg 120 120 160 0 0 Ruth Davidson 4 November 2011 Scottish Conservatives 143 seats, 15.6% 115 28 206,599 13.27% 2.35% Willie Rennie 2011 (cropped).JPG 120 120 160 0 0 Willie Rennie 17 May 2011 Scottish Liberal Democrats 166 seats, 12.7% 71 95 103,087 6.62% 6.05% 350px Popular vote by council areas. 350px Council controls post elections Scottish local elections 2012 (largest party).svg 200px Colours denote the party with the most seats Scottish local elections, 2012 (Ward results).svg 250px Colours denote the party with largest share of first preference votes by ward The 2012 Scottish local elections were held on 3 May 2012 in all 32 local authorities. The Scottish National Party (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. For the first time since the introduction of the Single Transferable Vote system, the SNP won majority control of 2 councils, from no overall control. 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 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 Single Transferable Vote (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 not to take place at the same time as a Scottish parliamentary election. New eCounting system In October 2010 a new company - Logica 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.https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-14418769 BBC News 5 August 2011 'Dummy election' for electronic vote counting machine 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: Angus and Dundee. Labour gained majority control over two councils, Renfrewshire and West Dunbartonshire, also from No Overall Control, and held on to their overall majority in both Glasgow and North Lanarkshire councils. The Conservatives 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 candidate.http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/05/04/professor-pongoo-penguin-lib-dems-scotland_n_1477116.html Candidate Dressed as a Penguin Beats Lib Dems Morse Felicity 4 May 2012 The Huffington Post 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 (where they topped the poll in two wards for the first time) and electing councillors for the first time to Stirling, Midlothian and Aberdeenshire local authorities (note: Cllr Martin Ford, re-elected in 2012 as a Green, won in 2007 as a Liberal Democrat). The Scottish Socialist Party held its sole seat, that of Jim Bollan in West Dunbartonshire. Meanwhile, the UK Independence Party lost its sole councillor in Scotland on Fife Council. Independent councillors retained majority control over the three island councils (Na h-Eileanan Siar, Orkney and Shetland). Aftermath right|200px|thumb|Colours denote the winning party with outright control Talks took place to decide who would control of the 23 remaining councils https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-17967667 BBC News Scottish council election: Council control talks get under way 5 May 2012 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 Summary of the 3 May 2012 Scottish council election resultsScottish Elections :: Local Elections 2012 - election results http://www.scottishelections.org.uk/scotland/l12/index.php |-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:Scottish National Party"| | 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:Scottish Labour"| | 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:Scottish Conservatives"| | style="text-align:left;" |Conservative |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:Independent politician"| | 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:Scottish Liberal Democrats"| | 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:Scottish Greens"| | style="text-align:left;" |Green |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:UK Independence Party"| | style="text-align:left;" |UKIP |4,289 |0.28 | style="background-color:#dfd" | +0.22 |0 | ±0 |0.00 |- style="text-align:right;" | style="background-color:Scottish Socialist Party"| | 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:Borders Party"| | 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:Glasgow First"| | 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:Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition"| | 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:Scottish Christian Party"| | 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:Scottish Senior Citizens Unity Party"| | 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:Scottish Unionist Party (1986)"| | 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:Solidarity (Scotland)"| | style="text-align:left;" |Solidarity |787 |0.05 | style="background-color:#ffe8e8;" | −0.81 |0 | style="background-color:#ffe8e8;" | −1 |0.00 |- style="text-align:right;" | style="background-color:Socialist Labour Party (UK)"| | 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:Liberal Party (UK, 1989)"| | 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:National Front (UK)"| | 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:Pirate Party UK"| | style="text-align:left;" |Pirate Party |292 |0.02 | style="background-color:#dfd" | +0.02 |0 | ±0 |0.00 |- style="text-align:right;" | style="background-color:Christian Peoples Alliance"| | style="text-align:left;" |Christian Peoples Alliance |209 |0.01 | style="background-color:#dfd" | +0.01 |0 | ±0 |0.00 |- style="text-align:right;" | style="background-color:Communist Party of Britain"| | 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:Official Monster Raving Loony Party"| | style="text-align:left;" |Official Monster Raving Loony Party |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 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/special/vote2012/council/scotland.stm Vote 2012 - Scottish Council Results 21 May 2012 BBC News which shows gain/loss relative to seats held at dissolution of Scotland's councils. Analysis + Candidates elected on first preferences, by party (2012)Curtice 2012 22Party Total elected Elected on 1st prefsTotal%% (2007) Scottish Conservatives 115 46 40.040.6 Scottish Labour 394 199 50.537.4 Liberal Democrats (UK) 71 20 28.221.7 Scottish National Party 425 185 43.556.5 Scottish Greens 14 1 7.1– Independent politician 200 79 39.531.6 Other 4 2 50.014.3Totals 1,223 532 43.539.7 + Average first terminal transfer rates (2012)the first terminal transfer of a major party candidate in a ward, where all of the other parties still had a candidate in the countCurtice 2012 15-16Transferred from % non-transferable % transferred toConLabLDSNP Ind/Other Scottish Conservatives33.6 – 8.0 32.4 8.3 17.6 Scottish Labour47.8 5.8 – 13.2 16.5 16.7 Scottish Liberal Democrats23.1 21.8 20.4 – 15.5 19.3 Scottish National Party44.2 6.0 18.1 14.1 – 17.8 Scottish Greens20.4 5.1 19.2 19.9 18.3 17.0 Councils Council 2007 Result: Largest party (Parties in control) Control before election(Change in control since May 2007, if different) 2012 Result: Largest party (Parties in control) Details Aberdeen City Liberal Democrats (UK) (LD + SNP)NOC (SNP + LD) Scottish Labour Party (Lab + Con + Ind)Details Aberdeenshire Liberal Democrats (UK) (LD + Con) Scottish National Party (Con + LD + Ind)Details Angus Scottish National Party (Ind + Con + LD + Lab) Scottish National Party DetailsArgyll and Bute Independent politician (Ind + SNP)NOC (Independent minority) Independent politician (Ind + SNP)Details Clackmannanshire Scottish Labour (Lab minority)NOC (SNP minority) Scottish National Party (SNP minority) Details Dumfries and Galloway Scottish Conservatives (LD + SNP) Scottish Labour (Lab minority)Details Dundee City Scottish National Party (Lab + LD)NOC (SNP minority) Scottish National Party Details East Ayrshire Scottish National Party (SNP minority)(SNP + Con) Scottish National Party (SNP + Con)Details East Dunbartonshire Scottish National Party (Lab + Con) Scottish Labour Party (Lab + LD + Con)Details East Lothian Scottish Labour Party (SNP + LD) Scottish Labour Party (Lab + Con)Details East Renfrewshire Scottish Conservative Party (Lab + Con + Ind + LD)NOC (Lab + SNP + Ind + LD) Scottish Labour Party (Lab + SNP + Ind)Details City of Edinburgh Liberal Democrats (UK) (LD + SNP) Scottish Labour Party (Lab + SNP)Details Falkirk Scottish Labour Party (Lab + Ind + Con) Scottish Labour Party (Lab + Con + Ind)Details Fife Scottish Labour Party (LD + SNP) Scottish Labour Party (Lab minority)Details Glasgow City Scottish Labour Party NOC (Lab minority) Scottish Labour Party DetailsHighland Independent (politician) (Ind + SNP)}NOC (Ind + LD + Lab) Independent (politician) (SNP + LD + Lab)Details Inverclyde Scottish Labour Party (Lab minority) Scottish Labour Party (Lab minority)Details Midlothian Scottish Labour Party (Lab minority) Labour Scottish Labour Party (SNP + Green + Ind)DetailsMoray Independent (politician) (Ind + Con) Scottish National Party (Ind + Con)DetailsNa h-Eileanan Siar Independent (politician) Independent (politician)Details North Ayrshire Scottish Labour Party (Lab minority) Scottish National Party (SNP minority)Details North Lanarkshire Scottish Labour Party Labour Scottish Labour Party DetailsOrkney Independent (politician) Independent (politician)Details Perth and Kinross Scottish National Party (SNP + LD) Scottish National Party (SNP minority)Details Renfrewshire Scottish Labour Party (SNP + LD) Scottish Labour Party Details Scottish Borders Scottish Conservative Party (Con + LD + Ind) Scottish Conservative Party (SNP + Ind + LD)DetailsShetland Independent (politician) Independent (politician)Details South Ayrshire Scottish Conservative Party (Con + Lab + Ind) Scottish Conservative Party (Con + Lab + Ind)Details South Lanarkshire Scottish Labour Party (Lab + LD + Con) Scottish Labour Party (Lab minority)Details Stirling Scottish Labour Party (Lab minority)NOC (SNP minority) Scottish National Party (Lab + Con)Details West Dunbartonshire Scottish Labour Party (SNP + Ind) Scottish Labour Party Details West Lothian Scottish Labour Party (SNP + Ind) Scottish Labour Party (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. Further reading http://www.electoral-reform.org.uk/sites/default/files/2012-Scottish-Local-Government-Elections.pdf 2012 Scottish Local Government Elections Curtice John 2012 Electoral Reform Society dead https://web.archive.org/web/20150915220715/http://www.electoral-reform.org.uk/sites/default/files/2012-Scottish-Local-Government-Elections.pdf 2015-09-15 Complete results and vote data files for all wards in Scotland, with figures illustrating the count process, are available at Scottish Council election May 2012 Notes References 2007 Scottish local elections Scottish local elections 2017 Scottish local elections expanded 2012 Local Category:May 2012 in the United Kingdom