Scottish Council by elections

[Deleted]

Glenrothes West and Kinglassie on October the 1st. (Alan Seath will stand for Labour)Peter Grant having moved to Wesminster having at last beaten down the resistance of the Glenrothes electorate.

[middleenglander]

The first 25 local council by-election seats since the 2015 General Election

Election Date	Authority	Ward	Result	Labour to SNP swing since 2012	Labour to SNP swing since 2007
9th July	North Lanarkshire	Thorniewood	SNP hold	25.3%	24.4%
30th July	Aberdeen	Hilton / Woodside / Stockethill	SNP hold	19.8%	17.6%
30th July	Aberdeen	Kincorth / Nigg / Cove	SNP hold	22.8%	21.2%
6th August	Glasgow	Anderston / City	SNP hold	20.1%	15.8%
6th August	Glasgow	Calton	SNP hold	24.9%	26.8%
6th August	Glasgow	Craigton	SNP hold	21.4%	22.1%
6th August	Glasgow	Langside	SNP gain from Green	13.1%	17.0%
6th August	South Lanarkshire	Hamilton South	SNP hold	15.6%	18.4%
13th August	Falkirk	Denny & Bankock	SNP hold	23.0%	24.4%
13th August	North Lanarkshire	Wishaw	SNP hold	20.8%	23.3%
18th August	Orkney	West Mainland	Orkney Manifesto win	n / a	n / a
10th September	Edinburgh	Leith Walk - 1st seat	SNP hold	7.7%	7.6%
		Leith Walk - 2nd seat	Labour gain from Green
10th September	Midlothian	Midlothian West	SNP hold	6.2%	4.3%
17th September	South Ayrshire	Ayr East	SNP hold	6.9%	12.4%
1st October	Aberdeen	George Street / Harbour	SNP hold	11.4%	12.6%
1st October	Aberdeen	Midstocket / Rosemount	SNP gain from Conservative	6.5%	7.2%
1st October	East Ayrshire	Irvine Valley	SNP hold	5.8%	7.0%
1st October	Fife	Glenrothes West & Kinglassie	SNP hold	12.9%	6.7%
1st October	Moray	Heldon & Laich	Independent hold	n / a	n / a
1st October	Stirling	Stirling East	SNP hold	9.4%	6.9%
1st October	West Lothian	Linlithgow	SNP hold	-0.6%	-1.3%
7th October	Western Isles	West Side & Ness	No Description gain from Independent	n / a	n / a
8th October	Highland	Aird & Loch Ness	Liberal Democrat gain from SNP	n / a	n / a
Possible	Fife	Rosyth

[middleenglander]

Jul 14, 2015 8:57:15 GMT middleenglander said:

Jul 2, 2015 14:37:23 GMT middleenglander said:

Irish Observer provided us on 12th May with a list of 16 SNP Councillors who had been elected as MPs. So far I make it 11 have resigned as Councillors with another 5 to go.

Kirsty Blackman - Aberdeen - Hilton / Woodside / Stockethill
Callum McCaig - Aberdeen - Kincorth / Nigg / Cove
Drew Hendry - Highland - Aird and Loch Ness
Steven Paterson - Stirling - Stirling East
Peter Grant - Fife - Glenrothes West and Kinglassie
Douglas Chapman - Fife - Rosyth
John McNally - Falkirk - Denny and Banknock
Owen Thompson - Midlothian - Midlothian West
Martyn Day - West Lothian - Linlithgow
Deidre Brock - City of Edinburgh - Leith Walk
Alison Thewsliss - Glasgow City - Calton
Martin Docherty - Glasgow City - Anderston / City
Angela Crawley - South Lanarkshire - Hamilton South
Marion Fellows - North Lanarkshire - Wishaw
Alan Brown - East Ayrshire - Irvine Valley
Corri Wilson - South Ayrshire - Ayr East

now 1 to go

All now resigned.

[afleitch]

I’ve been looking at the total number of votes cast in local authority by-elections in Scotland since ‘the event.’ Here are the figures

SNP 48.8
LAB 24.2
CON 11.7
LIB 5.2
GRN 5.0

The results in those same wards in 2012 was as follows:

SNP 34.9
LAB 38.3
CON 9.3
LIB 4.7
GRN 4.6

Bearing in mind that the SNP topped the poll (just) in 2012, then the wards being fought are slightly more ‘Labour’ than the national average.

The change in vote across those seats was therefore;

SNP +13.9
LAB -14.1
CON +2.5
LIB 0.5
GRN +0.4

Remember, this is a change on 2012, If this change happened across all seats in Scotland then you’d get the following result (using proportional rather than UNS)

SNP 45.2
LAB 19.8
CON 16.9
LIB 7.3
GRN 2.5

So while on raw totals, the Labour and SNP position looks comparable to the General election, in fact adjusting for the neck and neck 2012 results suggests that Labour are doing worse (and the Conservatives significantly better) than they did in the GE. Given that Labour have posted pooer results in Holyrood/Local Elections for many years than they do at the GE, this is to be expected.

There have also been four by-elections each in Aberdeen and Glasgow, so we can look at some regional variance too;

Aberdeen

SNP +16.8
LAB -14.6
CON +6
LIB -0.8
GRN +1.2

Glasgow

SNP +19.6
LAB -19.9
CON +1.9
LIB -0.8
GRN +2.4

[maxque]

There is an huge caveat, it's very irregular.

In Linlithgow, Conservatives lost 13% and were 3rd in a ward where they were usually 2nd or 1st.
It's the reverse in East Ayrshire.

[Tony Otim]

As mentioned elsewhere, there's a large personal vote for the Conservative incumbent in Linlithgow which obviously didn't transfer to another candidate.

For Labour there is some encouragement that the direction of travel does seem to have at least reversed, but they're still looking generally at a swing against since 2012. This suggests that currently next May would still see them lose seats, but there's time for that to change yet.

[piperdave]

Taking the results we've had over the last couple of months, you'd at least be looking at the SNP to take the second seat in those three-member wards where it is a battle between them and Labour. Candidate nomination and vote management strategies will be key and, as you say, there's still plenty of time to play for it all.

[The Bishop]

Might be worth remembering re the above discussion that IIRC the council elections in Scotland aren't until 2017?

[Davıd Boothroyd]

I note Fife council refers to byelections in "Dunfermline North & Rosyth Wards" on 26 November. There doesn't seem to be a vacancy in Dunfermline North. Councillors there are David Mogg (SNP), Helen Law (Labour) and William Campbell (Labour).

[Deleted]

Jan 25, 2016 15:29:38 GMT @boogieeck said:

www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/news/aberdeenshire/813379/six-months-suspension-on-the-cards-for-aberdeenshire-community-council-which-did-not-show-respect-to-councillor/

lets put this here. The entire Community Council is to be suspended for six months and new elections held. It appears to be that hey failed to show sufficient respect to Cllr Geva Blackett and possibly on an earlier occasion also to Cllr Peter Argylle. It appears that they may have implied that one or both Cllrs are attention seeking and/or a bit above themselves.

@fraser and The Bishop may both have slight memories of Geva, Fraser also of Peter.

Did somebody object to Geva being rude and imperious? How very dare they!

[peterl]

How pathetic. The ability to suspend community councils is most certainly one reason they are not taken seriously.

[Arthur Figgis]

Will anyone notice its absence for 6 months? Why bother reinstating it then?

[johnr]

By-election in Maryfield, Dundee.

www.thecourier.co.uk/news/local/dundee/melville-quits-as-city-councillor-1.923045

[Deleted]

Dundee SNP Councillor finally gets round to resigning.

www.thecourier.co.uk/news/local/dundee/craig-melville-quits-as-city-councillor-saying-he-can-t-do-job-amid-deeply-distressing-allegations-1.923045

[Deleted]

Civic. Joyous.

[johnr]

Word is that the SNP candidate for the vacancy will be the woman that Councillor Melville sent the texts to.

[Deleted]

Feb 7, 2016 22:38:59 GMT cogload said:

Civic. Joyous.

It never rains but it pours

www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/get-pakis-out-party-snp-7328646#OfLAgi7e1oGLzKds.97

[Deleted]

Oban North farce continues
www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/news/highlands/861082/argyll-councillor-resigns-triggering-another-by-election-for-oban/

[neilm]

Re: Oban. Is that the ward where technically there is a bridge across the Atlantic, or am I imagining that?

[Izzyeviel]

Sept 16, 2016 0:33:33 GMT neilm said:

Re: Oban. Is that the ward where technically there is a bridge across the Atlantic, or am I imagining that?

Indeed you are correct. It's the Clachan Bridge that connects an island to the mainland. It's a wee little bridge sadly.