2017 Aberdeen City Council election

Main article: 2017 Scottish local elections

The 2017 Aberdeen City Council election took place on 4 May 2017 to elect members of Aberdeen City Council. The election used the 13 wards created as a result of the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004, with each ward electing three or four Councillors using the single transferable vote system form of proportional representation, with a total of 45 Councillors elected, an increase in two members from 2012.

2017 Aberdeen City Council election

← 2012 4 May 2017 (2017-05-04) 2022 →
All 45 seats to Aberdeen City Council 23 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	37.6%
First party Second party Third party   Leader Stephen Flynn Douglas Lumsden Jenny Laing Party SNP Conservative Labour Leader's seat Kincorth/Nigg/Cove Airyhall/Broomhill/Garthdee Midstocket/Rosemount Last election 15 seats, 31.3% 3 seats, 9.7% 17 seats, 29.7% Seats won 19 11 9 Seat change 4 8 8 Popular vote 22,690 17,427 11,784 Percentage 32.6% 25.0% 16.9% Swing 1.3% 15.4% 12.8%   Fourth party Fifth party   Leader Ian Yuill Marie Boulton Party Liberal Democrats Independent Leader's seat Airyhall/Broomhill/Garthdee Lower Deeside Last election 5 seats, 15.1% 3 seats, 11.2% Seats won 4 2 Seat change 1 1 Popular vote 10,753 5,195 Percentage 15.4% 7.9% Swing 0.3% 3.3%
The 13 multi-member wards
Council Leader before election Jenny Laing Labour Council Leader after election Jenny Laing Labour (suspended)

The Scottish National Party won 19 seats, the Scottish Conservatives won 11, Scottish Labour won nine, the Scottish Liberal Democrats won four and there were two independent members. On 11 May, the Lib Dems, ruled out entering into a formal coalition and instead would "consider every issue before the council on its merits on a case-by-case basis."^[1]

On 17 May, an agreement was reached to form a coalition between the Tories, Labour and the three independent councillors, up from two after councillor Jennifer Stewart resigned from the Liberal Democrat group to sit as an Independent and give the coalition an overall majority.^[2] The coalition agreed by Aberdeen's Labour councillors was without the party executive's approval and so the councillors were told to withdraw from the deal by 5pm on 17 May or face suspension. The deadline passed without any change to the coalition and as such, all 9 Labour councillors were suspended from the party.^[3]

In August, the co-leadership was ratified by a meeting of the full council, appointing Douglas Lumsden (Con) & Jenny Laing (Lab) as co-leaders.

Election results

Aberdeen City Local Election Result 2017

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	SNP	19	—	—	+4	42.2	32.4	22,690	+1.1
	Conservative	11	—	—	+8	24.4	24.7	17,427	+15.1
	Labour	9	—	8	−8	17.8	17.7	12,496	−12.0
	Liberal Democrats	4	—	—	−1	8.9	15.2	10,753	+0.1
	Independent	2	—	—	−1	4.4	7.4	5,195	−3.8
	Green	0	—	—	—	0.0	2.2	1,538	−0.3
	UKIP	0	—	—	—	0.0	0.3	202	+0.2
	National Front	0	—	—	—	0.0	0.06	39	-0.39
	Scottish Libertarian	0	—	—	—	0.0	0.05	31	New
	Solidarity	0	—	—	—	0.0	0.04	28	New
Total		45						69,687

Ward results

Dyce/Bucksburn/Danestone

• 2012: 2xSNP; 2xLab
• 2017: 1xCons; 2xSNP; 1XLab
• 2012–2017 Change:−1 Lab; +1 Cons

Dyce/Bucksburn/Danestone – 4 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	Conservative	Avril MacKenzie	30.4	2,012
	SNP	Neil MacGregor (incumbent)	25.3	1,670
	SNP	Gill Samarai (incumbent)	11.9	785	798.7	1,087.3	1,115.5	1,176.8	1,317.9
	Labour	Barney Crockett (incumbent)‡	11.3	744	806	813.5	1,141.6	1,273.4	1,483.7
	Independent	Coral Duthie	7.7	509	658.1	669.8	708.9	942.9
	Labour	Graeme Lawrence (incumbent)	6.9	458	504.9	514.3
	Liberal Democrats	Dorothy Pearce	6.5	430	614.5	625.5	666.2
Electorate: TBC   Valid: 6,608   Spoilt: 145   Quota: 1,322   Turnout: 6,753 (44.2%)

Bridge of Don

• 2012: 2xSNP; 1xIndependent; 1xLab
• 2017: 1xCons; 2xSNP; 1xIndependent
• 2012–2017 Change: −1 Lab; +1 Cons

Bridge of Don – 4 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
	Conservative	Brett Hunt‡‡‡‡	25.8	1,868
	SNP	Alison Alphonse	22.2	1,610
	Independent	John Reynolds (incumbent)	14.4	1,045	1,132.2	1,137.6	1,140.1	1,179.6	1,327.2	1,598.9
	SNP	Sandy Stuart (incumbent)‡‡‡	11.9	862	869.9	996.7	1,000.4	1,009.7	1,056.04	1,130.7	1,157.8	1,373.4
	Labour	Willie Young (incumbent)	11.1	805	849.9	854.09	856.2	856.2	871.3	1,026.3	1,047.03
	Liberal Democrats	Karen Farquhar	9.2	669	782.9	791.2	794.3	803.5	850.2
	Independent	George Saunders	3.8	279	305.8	308.5	317.7	338.9
	Independent	Simon McLean	1.0	70	83.3	84.07	91.9
	Solidarity	James Irving-Lewis	0.4	28	32.7	35.2
Electorate: TBC   Valid: 7,236   Spoilt: 114   Quota: 1,448   Turnout: 7,350 (49.3%)

Kingswells/Sheddocksley/Summerhill

• 2017: 1xLDem; 1xSNP; 1xCons
• 2012–2017: New ward

Kingswells/Sheddocksley/Summerhill – 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	Liberal Democrats	Steve Delaney *	36.2	1,825
	SNP	David John Cameron *	17.7	895	972.5	974.8	997.8	1,668.7
	Conservative	John Wheeler	15.8	797	951.8	979.9	1,000.8	1,009	1,033.3	1,341.6
	Labour	Barry Mitchell	13.7	690	767.8	779	818.1	848.7	952.7
	SNP	Josh Mennie	13.4	678	722.8	731.3	769.7
	Green	Pippa Robertson	1.8	90	149.6	159.4
	UKIP	Philip Clarke	1.4	68	77.5
Electorate: TBC   Valid: 5,043   Spoilt: 85   Quota: 1,261   Turnout: 5,128 (45.5%)

• = Sitting Councillors for Kingswells/Sheddocksley Ward.

Northfield/Mastrick North

• 2017: 2x SNP; 1xLab
• 2012–2017 Change: New ward

Northfield/Mastrick North – 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	SNP	Jackie Dunbar*	39.9%	1,747
	Labour	Gordon Graham *‡	15.8%	692	728.1	740.5	779.9	885.5	902.8	911.07	1,551.3
	Labour	Frank Gilfeather	14.4%	629	655.8	661.8	693.2	788.6	798.8	809.9
	Conservative	Alan Martin	8.6%	376	379.7	395.7	430.6
	SNP	Ciaran McRae	8.4%	370	742.6	748.5	764.7	776.2	1,206.7
	SNP	Jessica Mennie	7.6%	333	486.5	494.01	502.9	516.2
	Liberal Democrats	Sam Forman	3.5%	154	169.7	188.02
	Independent	Faith Robertson-Foy	1.8%	81	86.2
Electorate: TBC   Valid: 4,382   Spoilt: 180   Quota: 1,096   Turnout: 4,562 (37.2%)

• = Sitting Councillors for Northfield Ward.

Hilton/Woodside/Stockethill

• 2017: 1x SNP; 1xLab; 1xCons
• 2012–2017 Change: New ward

Hilton/Woodside/Stockethill – 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	SNP	Neil Copland *	25.3%	1,148
	Conservative	Freddie John	19.6%	889	889.2	914.2	933.2	991.2	1,019.2	1,039.7	1,235.2
	Labour	Lesley Dunbar *‡	18%	818	818.9	843.9	870.9	913.9	1,252.9
	SNP	Lauren Wards	16.1%	729	738.9	761.09	829.4	884.5	906.7	925.03
	Labour	Lewis MacLeod	8.1%	369	369.3	379.3	393.3	445.3
	Liberal Democrats	Sam Petchey	4.8%	219	219.2	248.2	308.3
	Green	Peter Kennedy	4.1%	186	186.5	223.5
	Independent	David Page Henderson	3.9%	179	179.4
Electorate: TBC   Valid: 4,537   Spoilt: 137   Quota: 1,135   Turnout: 4,674 (40.5%)

• = Sitting Councillors for Hilton/Stockethill ward.

Tillydrone/Seaton/Old Aberdeen

• 2012: 2xLab; 1xSNP
• 2017: 2xSNP; 1Lab
• 2012–2017 Change: −1 Lab; +1 SNP

Tillydrone/Seaton/Old Aberdeen – 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
	Labour	Ross Grant (incumbent)‡	27%	867
	SNP	Alexander McLellan	25.6%	825
	SNP	Jim Noble (incumbent)	16.9%	545	549.6	566.9	569.9	582.9	595.2	682.9	774.5	839.7
	Conservative	Emma Farquhar	10.6%	342	344.3	344.5	350.5	372.5	408.7	432.1	471.2
	Labour	Ramsay Milne (incumbent)	7.6%	245	288.3	288.8	293.01	296.4	326.9	379.9
	Green	Alex Arthur	5.5%	178	180.5	181.06	182.06	188.3	231.3
	Liberal Democrats	Jenny Wilson	4.1%	133	134.3	134.5	137.5	142.6
	UKIP	Stephen Adams	1.6%	53	53.9	54.02	60.03
	National Front	Dave MacDonald	0.9%	29	29.3	29.3
Electorate: TBC   Valid: 3,217   Spoilt: 133   Quota: 805   Turnout: 3,350 (36.4%)

Midstocket/Rosemount

• 2012: 1xCons; 1xSNP; 1xLab
• 2017: 1xCons; 1xSNP; 1xLab
• 2012–2017 Change: No change

Midstocket/Rosemount – 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	Conservative	Tom Mason	27.7%	1,318
	SNP	Bill Cormie (incumbent)	25.1%	1,195
	Labour	Jenny Laing (incumbent)‡	19.7%	935	960.05	960.4	971.05	1,040.2	1,154.2	1,283.3
	SNP	Derek Davidson	8.4%	398	399.2	403.8	403.8	491.1	524.9	604.5
	Independent	Dustin MacDonald	6.5%	311	323.8	323.9	379.3	419.7	492.4
	Green	Alex Jarvis	5.4%	256	260.5	260.8	268.4
	Liberal Democrats	William Sell	5.2%	245	270.01	272.1	292.9	332.05
	Independent	Bill Robb	2%	97	117.4	117.5
Electorate: TBC   Valid: 4,755   Spoilt: 80   Quota: 1,189   Turnout: 4,835 (44.3%)

George Street/Harbour

• 2012: 2xLab; 1xSNP
• 2017: 2xSNP; 1xLab; 1xCons
• 2012–2017 Change: +1 Cons; +1 SNP; −1 Lab; 1 extra seat compared to 2012.

George Street/Harbour – 4 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
	SNP	Dell Henrickson	20.8%	753
	SNP	Michael Hutchison (incumbent)	17.4%	632	650.5	653.5	676.7	866.6
	Conservative	Ryan Houghton	16.2%	588	588.6	601.7	641.7	646.7	649.9	664.1	688.9	836.4
	Labour	Sandra MacDonald‡	15%	545	545.9	549.9	578.9	582.9	596.8	864.2
	Green	Guy Ingerson	10%	364	365.04	366.04	425.1	440.3	489.7	500.2	534.8
	Labour	Mike Scott	8.1%	292	292.1	293.1	315.1	316.2	320.1
	SNP	Wendy Stuart	5.8%	210	215.4	216.5	222.5
	Liberal Democrats	John Waddell	5.7%	206	206.3	211.3
	UKIP	John Stephen	0.9%	32	32.1
Electorate: TBC   Valid: 3,622   Spoilt: 103   Quota: 725   Turnout: 3,725 (30.5%)

Lower Deeside

• 2012: 1xIndependent; 1xLib Dem; 1xLab
• 2017: 1xCons; 1xLab; 1xIndependent
• 2012–2017 Change: − LibDem; +1 Con

Lower Deeside – 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	Conservative	Philip Bell	39.8	2,714
	Independent	Marie Boulton (incumbent)	16.4	1,119	1,449.4	1,452.5	1,512	1,556.09	1,822.8
	Labour	M. Tauqeer Malik (incumbent)‡	15.3	1,040	1,155.5	1,165.09	1,211.1	1,241.6	1,447.9	1,497.3	1,976.8
	SNP	Pamela McBain	15.1	1,028	1,042.9	1,049.4	1,068.8	1,145.9	1,224.4	1,235.1
	Liberal Democrats	Ken McLeod	7.9	541	743.6	751.9	770.7	816.04
	Green	Nir Oren	2.9	195	209.5	213.3	223.8
	Independent	Kenneth Pratt	2.1	143	202.9	205.7
	Scottish Libertarian	Robbie Bowman	0.5	31	45.9
Electorate: TBC   Valid: 6,811   Spoilt: 52   Quota: 1,703   Turnout: 6,863 (57.7%)

Hazlehead/Ashley/Queens Cross

• 2012 2xLDem; 1xCons; 1xSNP
• 2017 2xLDem; 1xCons; 1xSNP
• 2012–2017 Change: No change

Hazlehead/Ashley/Queens Cross – 4 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5
	Liberal Democrats	Jennifer Stewart (incumbent) ‡	23.0	1,725
	Liberal Democrats	Martin Greig (incumbent)	21.2	1,592
	Conservative	Claire Imrie	17.7	1,326	1,380.5	1,395.4	1,448	2,614.1
	Conservative	Steve Robertson	16.2	1,214	1,251.4	1,273.8	1,345.4
	SNP	John Cooke	16.1	1,210	1,239.9	1,251.8	1,371.9	1,396.4
	Labour	John McLeod	5.9	441	470.2	481.1
Electorate: TBC   Valid: 7,508   Spoilt: 131   Quota: 1,502   Turnout: 7,639 (54.3%)

Airyhall/Broomhill/Garthdee

• 2012 1xLib Dem; 1xLab; 1xSNP
• 2017 1xLib Dem; 1xCons; 1xSNP
• 2012–2017 Change: −1 Lab; +1 Cons

Airyhall/Broomhill/Garthdee – 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2
	Liberal Democrats	Ian Yuill (incumbent)	40.2	2,458
	Conservative	Douglas Lumsden	25.1	1,533
	SNP	Gordon Townson (incumbent)	23.2	1,417	1,596.7
	Labour	Angela Taylor (incumbent)	11.6	708	1,076.8
Electorate: TBC   Valid: 6,116   Spoilt: 54   Quota: 1,530   Turnout: 6,170 (51.9%)

Torry/Ferryhill

• 2012: 2xSNP; 1xLab; 1xCons
• 2017: 2xSNP; 1xLab; 1xCons
• 2012–2017 Change: No change

Torry/Ferryhill – 4 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
	Conservative	Alan Donnelly (incumbent)‡‡	26.1	1,337
	SNP	Christian Allard	17.8	910	913.6	914.6	920.7	963.9	988.4	1,013.4	1,037.7	1,159.3
	SNP	Catriona MacKenzie‡‡‡‡‡	16.5	847	851.2	851.2	854.2	915.4	956.4	1,001.4	1,017.3	1,143.1
	Labour	Yvonne Allan (incumbent)‡	16.5	843	873.7	873.7	881.4	908.9	989.7	1,324.2
	Independent	David Fryer	11.3	580	616.7	619.8	629.2	681.2	754.7	799.0	846.3
	Labour	Piotr Teodorowski	9.1	467	474.8	474.8	476.8	499.09	547.4
	Liberal Democrats	Gregor McAbery	5.6	286	332.7	333.7	340.01	377.5
	Green	Renée Slater	5.3	269	274.7	275.7	282.8
	UKIP	William McIntosh	1.0	49	65.7
	National Front	Billy Watson	0.2	10	10.5
Electorate: TBC   Valid: 5,598   Spoilt: 144   Quota: 1,120   Turnout: 5,742 (37.8%)

Kincorth/Nigg/Cove

• 2017: 2xSNP; 1xCons; 1xLab
• 2012–2017 Change: New ward

Kincorth/Nigg/Cove – 4 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	SNP	Stephen Flynn *‡‡‡‡‡‡	27.0	1,396
	Conservative	Philip Sellar	21.5	1,113
	SNP	Alex Nicoll +	13.7	707	1,020.3	1,023.08	1,041.9
	Labour	Sarah Duncan‡	11.4	590	595.7	601.9	615.5	615.9	670.9	960.07	1,198.6
	Independent	Andy Finlayson *	10.9	562	571.5	585.9	719.5	720.8	812.07	845.5
	Labour	Lynn Thomson	6.1	318	322.1	329.5	343.7	344.08	388.3
	Liberal Democrats	Cameron Finnie	5.2	270	273.09	286.2	305.3	305.9
	Independent	Finlay Crossan	4.3	220	224.1	232.9
Electorate: TBC   Valid: 5,176   Spoilt: 120   Quota: 1,036   Turnout: 5,296 (40.9%)

• = Sitting Councillors for Kincorth/Loirston Ward.

+ = Sitting Councillor for Midstocket/Rosemount Ward.

Changes between 2017 and 2022

‡ Changes of affiliation

On 17 May 2017, Cllr Jennifer Stewart (Hazlehead/Ashley/Queens Cross) resigned from the Liberal Democrat group and now sits as an Independent.

On the same day, all 9 Labour councillors were suspended from the party and now sit as "Aberdeen Labour".

• ‡‡ On 10 January 2019 Cllr Alan Donnelly (Torry/Ferryhill) was suspended from membership of the Scottish Conservative Party following a sexual harassment complaint.^[4] He remained a member, and Depute Leader, of the Conservative Group on Aberdeen City Council until his conviction for sexual assault on 13 December 2019. He now sits as an Independent but is currently the subject of an interim suspension by the Standards Commission for Scotland.
• ‡‡‡ On 11 July 2019 Bridge of Don SNP Cllr Sandy Stuart died after a short illness.^[5] A by-election was held on 3 October 2019 for two seats. This was due to the resignation of fellow Bridge of Don Cllr Brett Hunt the day after the death of Cllr Stuart. The SNP candidate Jessica Mennie retained the seat for the party.^[6]
• ‡‡‡‡ On 12 July 2019 Conservative Cllr Brett Hunt resigned his seat as he works increasingly overseas.^[7] A by-election was held on 3 October 2019 for two seats. This was due to the death of fellow Bridge of Don Cllr Sandy Stuart the day before Cllr Brett Hunt's resignation. The Conservative candidate Sarah Cross retained the seat for the party.^[6]
• ‡‡‡‡‡ On 28 August 2019 Torry and Ferryhill SNP Cllr Catriona McKenzie resigned her seat due to changes in her personal life.^[8] A by-election was held on 21 November 2019 and Audrey Nicoll held the seat for the SNP.
• ‡‡‡‡‡‡ Kincorth/Nigg/Cove SNP Cllr Stephen Flynn was elected MP for Aberdeen South at the 2019 UK General Election. He resigned his Council seat on 4 March 2020 resulting in a by-election. This was scheduled for 5 November 2020 and was held by Miranda Radley for the SNP.

By-elections since 2017

Bridge of Don By-election (3 October 2019) – 2 Seats^[9]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1
	Conservative	Sarah Cross	36.2%	1,857
	SNP	Jessica Mennie	35.0%	1,797
	Liberal Democrats	Michael Skoczykloda	18.1%	929
	Labour	Graeme Lawrence	5.9%	305
	Green	Sylvia Hardie	2.7%	140
	Independent	Simon McLean	0.8%	43
	Red Party of Scotland	Max McKay	0.17%	9
Electorate: 15,188   Valid: 5,135   Spoilt: 66   Quota: 1,712   Turnout: 34.2%

Torry/Ferryhill By-election (21 November 2019)

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	SNP	Audrey Nicoll	43.2	1,618	1,620	1,624	1,673	1,819	1,989
	Conservative	Neil Murray	26.0	972	983	996	1,049	1,083	1,151
	Labour	Willie Young	10.6	395	396	402	462	533
	Liberal Democrats	Gregor McAbery	8.4	315	320	324
	Green	Betty Lyon	8.1	304	320	347	429
	Independent	Simon McLean	2.3	86	89
	UKIP	Roy Hill	1.4	53
Electorate: 15,443   Valid: 3,743   Spoilt: 40   Quota: 1,872   Turnout: 3,783 (24.5%)

Kincorth/Nigg/Cove By-election (5 November 2020)

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	SNP	Miranda Radley	47.4	1,661	1,661	1,663	1,672	1,691	1,697	1,716	1,785
	Conservative	Christopher Wyles	20.2	709	710	712	713	714	725	746	834
	Labour	Shona Simpson	12.2	429	430	430	431	441	446	471	529
	Independent	Andy Finlayson	10.5	367	368	368	374	383	419	451
	Liberal Democrats	Moira Henderson	3.6	128	132	132	133	140	148
	Independent	Simon McLean	2.5	92	93	97	99	104
	Green	Daniel Verhamme	1.7	58	60	61	63
	Independent	Lizette Belizzi Houston	0.9	31	32	34
	Independent	Sochima Iroh	0.5	16
	Scottish Libertarian	Bryce Hope	0.5	16
Electorate: 13,130   Valid: 3,540   Spoilt: 33   Quota: 1,754   Turnout: 3,573 (27%)