Council Elections in Scotland

Labour: +58

SNP: + 57

Conservatives: -16

Liberal Democrats: - 80

Greens: +6

Scotland went well for both Labour and the SNP, both parties made significant gains. Thankfully for Labour they managed to retain Glasgow council amongst widespread fears that they would lose overall control of Glasgow, even if the SNP didn’t manage to take control.

Labour managed to gain 58 councillors and the SNP 57, since Labour started out with fewer councillors, the percentage increase was better than the SNP. The system by which councils are elected in Scotland makes it hard for one party to gain overall control, meaning that most councils do not have one-party rule. Previous to Thursday’s election Labour had overall control in only two councils, Glasgow and North Lanarkshire, both remained under Labour control, Labour also managed to gain Renfrewshire and West Dunbartonshire. The SNP started off with no overall control of councils but managed to gain Angus and Dundee, much to Alex Salmond’s delight. The SNP made good gains in Aberdeenshire to strengthen their role as biggest party, but in Aberdeen a good night for Labour meant that they overtook the SNP as the council’s biggest party.

Alex Salmond was publically delighted with this result, but in private I’d imagine it would be a different story. Although Thursday was a success for him, many people, including those in his own party, predicted significantly better results than this.

The Liberal Democrats have much to feel upset about, losing 80 councillors, reducing them to just 71. The Conservatives lost 16 councillors but are happy with the result as they are now the third party in Scotland, having overtaken the Liberal Democrats.