1974 Scottish local elections

Elections for the Scottish district councils were held on Tuesday 7 May 1974, for both the new regional and district councils, between the two United Kingdom general elections of February and October in that same year.

1974 Scottish local elections
7 May 1974
  First party Second party
  Edward Heath
Leader Harold Wilson Edward Heath
Party Labour Conservative
Leader since 14 February 1963 28 July 1965
  Third party Fourth party
 
Leader William Wolfe Jeremy Thorpe
Party SNP Liberal
Leader since 1 June 1969 18 January 1967

These were the first elections held to the 53 district councils established by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973. The Labour Party did reasonably well and the Scottish National Party (SNP) did not. The councillors acted as "shadow" councils until May 1975, when the provisions of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 came into effect.[1]

Results

National results
Result of the Regional elections.
Summary of the 1974 Scottish local regional election results[2][3][4]
Parties Votes Votes % Wards
Labour 658,089 38.5 172
Conservative 488,905 28.6 112
SNP 215,502 12.6 18
Liberal 87,333 5.1 11
Independent/Other 261,372 15.3 114/5
Total
Result of the District elections.
Summary of the 1974 Scottish District local council election results[2][3]
Parties Votes Votes % Wards
Labour 619,531 38.4 428
Conservative 433,287 26.8 241
SNP 200,307 12.4 62
Liberal 80,232 5.0 17
Independent/Other 280,946 17.5 345/17
Total

Note: Orkney, Shetland, and the Western Isles were governed at the district level as unitary authorities, meaning they were not included in any larger region.

Regional Councils
Region Labour Conservative SNP Liberal Independent Other Turnout Total Seats Control
 Details
Borders 0 7 0 3 13 0 29 Independent Details
Central 17 4 9 0 3 1 34 Labour Details
Dumfries and Galloway 2 0 0 0 33 0 35 Independent Details
Fife 26 10 0 0 3 3 (1 Communist) 42 Labour Details
Grampian 13 28 0 2 10 0 53 Conservative Details
Highland 4 2 1 3 37 0 47 Independent Details
Lothian 24 19 3 1 1 1 49 No overall control Details
Orkney Independent Details
Shetland Independent Details
Strathclyde 71 20 5 2 5 0 103 Labour Details
Tayside 15 22 0 0 9 0 46 No overall control Details
Na h-Eileanan Siar (Western Isles) Independent Details

[3]

District Councils

[3]

Region Labour Conservative SNP Liberal Independent Other Turnout Total Seats
Borders 1 9 0 0 44 0 54
Central 29 9 21 0 8 0 67
Dumfries and Galloway 5 1 1 0 61 2 70
Fife 43 24 2 1 10 4 84
Grampian 30 25 1 4 48 0 108
Highland 4 0 4 2 99 0 109
Lothian 62 38 8 3 5 1 127
Orkney
Shetland
Strathclyde 225 92 25 7 49 8 406
Tayside 29 43 0 0 21 1 94
Na h-Eileanan Siar (Western Isles)

The seats on each district council after the election were as follows:[5]

Borders
District Labour Conservative Liberal Independent Other Control
Berwickshire 0 10 0 2 0 Conservative
Ettrick and Lauderdale 1 0 0 14 0 Independent
Roxburgh 0 0 0 13 Border Independents 3 Independent
Tweeddale 0 0 0 10 0 Independent
Central
District Labour Conservative SNP Liberal Independent Other Control
Clackmannan 5 1 5 0 0 Scottish Labour 1 No overall control
Falkirk 16 2 12 0 3 Independent Labour 1
Non-Party 2		 No overall control
Stirling 7 8 4 0 1 0 NOC
Dumfries and Galloway
District Labour Conservative SNP Independent Other Control
Annandale and Eskdale 0 0 0 14 0 Independent
Nithsdale 6 1 1 17 Non-Party 5 Independent
Stewartry 0 0 0 12 0 Independent
Wigtown 0 0 0 14 0 Independent
Fife
District Labour Conservative SNP Liberal Independent Other Control
Dunfermline 17 5 3 1 4 0 Labour
Kirkcaldy 24 5 0 0 2 Ratepayers 4
Communist 1		 NOC
North-East Fife 0 13 0 0 5 0 Conservative
Grampian
District Labour Conservative SNP Liberal Independent Control
Banff and Buchan 0 0 0 0 18 Independent
City of Aberdeen 28 17 0 3 0 Labour
Gordon 0 3 0 2 7 Independent
Kincardine and Deeside 0 2 0 0 10 Independent
Moray 0 0 0 0 18 Independent
Highland
District Labour SNP Independent Control
Badenoch and Strathspey 0 0 10 Independent hold
Caithness 0 0 15 Independent hold
Inverness 0 0 15 Independent hold
Lochaber
2 vacancies		 3 0 7 Independent
Nairn 0 3 7 Independent
Ross and Cromarty 0 0 20 Independent hold
Skye and Lochalsh 0 0 10 Independent
Sutherland 0 0 14 Independent
Lothian
District Labour Conservative SNP Liberal Independent Control
City of Edinburgh 27 31 2 3 1 No overall control
East Lothian 10 6 0 0 1 Labour
Midlothian 11 2 1 0 1 Labour
West Lothian 10 0 8 0 3 NOC
Strathclyde
District Labour Conservative SNP Liberal Independent Others Control
Argyll and Bute
1 vacancy		 0 0 0 0 25 0 Independent
Bearsden and Milngavie 1 5 0 0 4 0 No overall control
Clydebank 5 1 3 0 0 Scottish Labour 1 Labour
Cumbernauld and Kilsyth 3 0 7 0 0 0 SNP
Cumnock and Doon Valley 8 1 0 0 1 Labour
Cunninghame 14 0 1 0 2 Moderate Conservatives 7 Labour
Dumbarton 8 2 0 0 5 0 Labour
East Kilbride 5 2 7 0 1 0 No overall control
Eastwood 0 10 0 0 0 Ratepayers 2 Conservative
City of Glasgow 54 16 1 0 0 Independent Conservative 1 Labour
Hamilton 13 2 2 2 1 Independent Labour 0 Labour
Inverclyde 14 2 0 6 1 0 Labour
Kilmarnock and Loudoun 12 4 0 0 0 0 Labour
Kyle and Carrick 10 15 0 0 0 0 Conservative
Lanark 4 0 2 0 8 0 Independent
Motherwell 25 1 2 1 1 Communist 0 Labour
Monklands 15 4 1 0 1 0 Labour
Renfrew 25 10 1 0 3 CA 1 Labour
Strathkelvin 6 5 3 0 0 0 No overall control
Tayside
District Labour Conservative SNP Independent Others Control
Angus 3 11 0 8 0 Conservative
City of Dundee 22 20 0 2 Real Labour 1
Monifeith Ratepayers 0		 NOC
Perth and Kinross 4 19 0 6 0 Conservative

See also

References
  1. Faux, Ronald (5 May 1977). "SNP seizes 107 seats". The Times. pp. 1, 4.
  2. Rallings, Colin; Thrasher, Michael (2013). Local Elections in Britain. Routledge. pp. Table 7.5.
  3. "appendices" (PDF). www.era.lib.ed.ac.uk. 1976. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
  4. "Scottish Elections". Scottish Elections. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
  5. "Results of Scottish district council elections". The Times. 5 May 1977. p. 4.
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