2022 Highland Council election

At the previous election in 2017, a plurality of councillors returned were independents with 28 elected – seven fewer than the previous election. The Scottish National Party (SNP) were the largest political party elected with 22 seats while the Conservatives won their first seats on the council since 1995 as they gained 10 seats – their best ever result in the region. Both the Liberal Democrats and Labour lost five seats to hold 10 and three respectively while the Greens won their first representation on the council.[1][2]

As a result, the independent group formed a coalition administration with the Labour and Liberal Democrat groups to run the council.[3]

Source: [1][2]

The election used the 21 wards created under the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004, with 64 councillors being elected. Each ward elected either 3 or 4 members, using the single transferable vote (STV) electoral system – a form of proportional representation – where candidates are ranked in order of preference.[4]

Since the previous election, there were several changes in the composition of the council. A number were changes to the political affiliation of councillors, including SNP councillors Calum MacLeod, Maxine Smith, Pauline Munro and Liz MacDonald who resigned from the party to become independents[5][6] and independent councillor Donnie Mackay who resigned from the independent administration to join the Conservatives.[7] Independent councillor Andrew Baxter was removed from the independent administration and initially continued under the designation "Real Independent" before joining the Conservatives.[8] SNP councillor Ken Gowans resigned from the party to become an independent in 2017 before subsequently rejoining the party the following year.[9]

In total, nine by-elections were held and resulted in an independent gain from the Liberal Democrats,[10] a Liberal Democrats gain from the SNP,[11] an SNP gain from the Liberal Democrats,[12] an SNP hold,[13] an independent hold,[14] an independent gain from the Conservatives,[15] two Liberal Democrats gains from independents[16] and an SNP gain from the Conservatives.[17] Independent councillor Ben Thompson resigned from the council in November 2021 and Tom Heggie, also an independent councillor, died in February 2022 which left vacancies on the council which would not be filled as they occurred less than six months before the election.[18][19]

Notes

Of the 72 sitting councillors before the election, 30 did not stand for re-election. Additionally, four councillors contested different wards from the ones they previously represented. With four sitting councillors defeated at the polls, only 38 sitting councillors were re-elected in 2022.

[2][20]

Following the passing of the Islands (Scotland) Act 2018, a review of the boundaries was undertaken in North Ayrshire, Argyll and Bute, Highland, Orkney Islands, Shetland Islands and Comhairle nan Eilean Siar. The Act allowed single- or two-member wards to be created to provide better representation of island communities. New ward boundaries were proposed by Boundaries Scotland in 2021 which would have reduced the number of wards by one to 20 and the number of councillors by one to 73. The proposals would have made no changes to the boundaries or numbers of councillors in Cromarty Firth; Fort William and Ardnamurchan; Nairn and Cawdor and Thurso and North West Caithness. The boundaries in Eilean a' Cheò[note 4] and North, West and Central Sutherland would have remained the same but the numbers of councillors would have been reduced from four to three and from three to two respectively. Further changes would have seen four new wards created in Inverness, with the total number of councillors representing the city rising from 16 to 18 while Caol and Mallaig would have been renamed Caol, Mallaig and the Small Isles to recognise the island communities within the ward. Boundaries Scotland said the changes would "create more recognisable ward boundaries by Inverness, Tain and Knoydart" and "better align with the historical Caithness–Sutherland county boundary". However, the proposals in Highland were rejected by the Scottish Parliament and the 21 wards created under the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004 remained in place.[21][22]

The total number of candidates fell from 166 in 2017 to 142. The election again saw the number of independent candidates outstrip the number selected by any political party as 40 stood for election – down from 61 in 2017. However, this was less than half the number which had regularly contested elections in Highland since the local government reforms in the 1990s which peaked at 108 in 2003 – the last election before the introduction of STV.[23] The SNP fielded more candidates than any other political party at 23 – down from the 32 fielded at the previous election – but they did not contest every ward as they had in 2017. Both the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives contested every ward and stood 21 candidates each as they did in 2017. Labour stood 14 candidates – down from 18 – while the Greens stood 11 candidates – up from eight – and the Libertarians stood two candidates – up from one in 2017. The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) stood a candidate for the first time since 2012. For the first time, the Alba Party (four), the Scottish Family Party (one), the Independence for Scotland Party (ISP) (one) and the Freedom Alliance (one) stood candidates in a Highland election. Neither the Scottish Socialist Party, the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) nor the Scottish Christian Party, which had all contested the 2017 elections, stood any candidates.[2][20]

After nominations closed on 30 March 2022, there were not enough candidates in Caol and Mallaig to require an election: three candidates stood for the three seats available. As a result, Green candidate Andrew Baldrey, Liberal Democrats candidate John Colin Grafton and Conservative candidate Liz Saggers were elected without a poll. This was one of a number of uncontested wards across Scotland, with a total of 18 councillors automatically elected. Despite their candidate being elected without a poll, the lack of interest in standing for election was called a "threat to local democracy" by the Greens. During the 2017 local elections in Scotland, just three council wards were uncontested, but votes were held in every ward in both 2007 and 2012 – the first elections to use multi-member wards and the Single transferable vote. Public disinterest in standing for election to local councils has been linked to the "ridiculous" size of some local authorities and the low pay councillors receive for their work.[24][25][26]

Source: [20]

Below is a list of seats which elected a different party or parties from 2017 in order to highlight the change in political composition of the council from the previous election. The list does not include defeated incumbents who resigned or defected from their party and subsequently failed re-election while the party held the seat.

Notes

The SNP, the Liberal Democrats and independent candidate Hugh Morrison retained the seats they had won at the previous election.

Source:[29][30]

The SNP, the Conservatives and independent candidate Matthew Reiss retained the seats they had won at the previous election while the Liberal Democrats gained one seat from former independent councillor Donnie MacKay. In 2017, Donnie MacKay was elected as an independent candidate but later joined the Conservatives.[7] He did not stand for re-election.

Source:[33][34]

The SNP, the Conservatives and independent candidate A. I. Willie MacKay retained the seats they had won at the previous election while the Liberal Democrats gained one seat from independent councillor Nicola Sinclair.

Source:[35][36]

The Liberal Democrats and independent candidate Jim McGillivray retained the seats they had won at the previous election while the SNP gained one seat from Labour.

Source:[37][38]

The SNP, the Conservatives and independent candidate Biz Campbell retained the seats they had won at the previous election while the SNP also gained a seat from the Liberal Democrats.

Source:[39][40]

The SNP held one of their two seats and the Liberal Democrats gained one seat from the SNP. Independent candidate Pauline Munro also retained the seat she had won at the previous election and their remained two independents after Maxine Morley-Smith was re-elected as an independent candidate. In 2017, Cllr Smith – as she was known at the time – was elected as an SNP candidate and later resigned from the party

Source:[41][42]

The SNP and the Liberal Democrats retained the seats they had won at the previous election while independent candidate Alasdair Rhind gained a seat from independent candidate Fiona Robertson. Cllr Rhind was previously elected to represent the ward following a by-election in 2017 triggered by the resignation of former Liberal Democrat councillor Jamie Stone.[10]

Source:[44][45]

The SNP, the Liberal Democrats and independent candidate Margaret Paterson retained the seats they had won at the previous election while independent candidate Sean Edward Kennedy gained a seat from former independent councillor Alister MacKinnon.

Source:[46][47]

The SNP and the Liberal Democrats retained the seats they had won at the previous election while independent candidate Sarah Atkin gained a seat from former independent councillor Jennifer Barclay.

Source:[48][49]

The SNP and independent candidate John Finlayson retained the seats they had won at the previous election while the Conservatives and independent candidate Calum Munro gained seats from former independent councillors John Gordon and Ronald McDonald. Cllr Munro was previously elected to represent the ward following a by-election in 2020 triggered by the resignation of former independent councillor Ronald McDonald.[14]

Source:[50][51]

The Liberal Democrats, the Conservatives and the Greens were elected unopposed. This resulted in gains from the SNP and former independent councillors Allan Henderson and Ben Thompson.

Source:[52]

The SNP and the Conservatives retained the seats they had won at the previous election while the Greens and independent candidate David Fraser gained seats from independent former councillors Margaret Davidson and Helen Carmichael. Cllr Fraser was previously elected to represent the ward following a by-election in 2021 triggered by the death of former Conservative councillor George Cruikshank.[15]

Source:[53][54]

The Liberal Democrats and the SNP retained the seats they had won at the previous election while the Greens gained a seat from former independent councillor Graham Ross.

Source:[55][56]

The SNP and Labour retained the seats they had won at the previous election while the SNP gained a seat from former independent councillor Janet Campbell.

Source:[57][58]

The SNP and the Liberal Democrats retained the seats they had won at the previous election while Labour gained a seat from the Conservatives. In 2017, Ron MacWilliam was elected as an SNP candidate. He stood as an independent candidate in 2022.[20]

Source:[59][60]

The SNP and the Conservatives retained the seats they had won at the previous election while the Liberal Democrats gained one seat from Labour.

Source:[61][62]

The SNP and the Liberal Democrats retained the seats they had won at the previous election while independent candidate Morven Reid gained a seat from former independent councillor Roddy Balfour.

Source:[63][64]

The SNP, the Conservatives and independent councillor Laurie Fraser retained the seats they had won at the previous election while independent candidate Michael Green gained a seat from former independent councillor Tom Heggie.

Source:[65][66]

The SNP, Liberal Democrats, Conservatives and independent councillor Duncan MacPherson retained they seats they had won at the previous election.

Source:[67][68]

The SNP, the Conservatives and independent councillor Bill Lobban retained the seats they had won at the previous election while independent candidate Russell Jones gained a seat from the Greens.

Source:[69][70]

The SNP retained one of the two seats they had won at the previous election while the Liberal Democrats, the Greens and independent candidate Thomas MacLennan gained seats from the SNP, the Conservatives and former independent councillor Andrew Baxter.

Source:[71][72]

Tain and Easter Ross Liberal Democrat councillor Sarah Rawlings resigned in June 2023.[43] A by-election was held on 28 September 2023 with independent Maureen Ross elected.[77] Cllr Ross has joined the Highland Independent grouping on the council.[78]

Source:[79][80]

Inverness South Liberal Democrat councillor Colin Aitken resigned in February 2024.[81] A by-election held on 11 April 2024 was won by independent candidate Duncan Cameron McDonald.

Source:[82][83]

A second Tain and Easter Ross by-election of the term was called following the death of independent councillor Alasdair Rhind. The election is scheduled for 13 June 2024.[84]

Councillor Bet McAllister has announced her intention to retire in June 2024.[85] A by-election will follow.