2017 Perth and Kinross Council election

The 2017 Perth and Kinross Council election was held on 4 May 2017, the same day as the other Scottish local government elections. The election covered the twelve 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 40 Councillors being elected, a reduction of 1 member compared to 2012.

2017 Perth and Kinross Council election

← 2012 4 May 2017 (2017-05-04) 2022 →
All 40 seats to Perth and Kinross Council 21 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Party Conservative SNP Liberal Democrats Last election 10 seats, 25.2% 18 seats, 40.3% 5 seats, 12.7% Seats before 10 18 5 Seats won 17 15 4 Seat change 7 3 1 Popular vote 24,761 18,871 7,539 Percentage 40.9% 31.2% 12.5% Swing 15.7% 9.2% 0.2%   Fourth party Fifth party   Party Independent Labour Last election 3 seats, 7.3% 4 seats, 11.9% Seats before 3 4 Seats won 3 1 Seat change 3 Popular vote 4,083 3,142 Percentage 6.7% 5.2% Swing 0.6% 6.7%
The 12 multi-member wards
Council Leader before election Ian Miller SNP Council Leader after election Ian Campbell Conservative

Following the 2012 election a Scottish National Party minority administration took over the running of the Council with the support of the Scottish Conservatives. After this election, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrat groups formed a coalition with independents to run the administration.^[1] The sole Labour councillor, Alasdair Bailey, was initially named as part of the coalition, but soon insisted that he was not.^[2]

In September 2019, the coalition ended as the Conservative group voted to continue in a minority administration.^[3]

Results

2017 Perth and Kinross Council election result

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Conservative	17	-	-	7	42.5	40.9	24,761	15.7
	SNP	15	-	-	3	37.5	31.2	18,871	9.2
	Liberal Democrats	4	-	-	1	10.0	12.5	7,539	0.2
	Labour	1	-	-	3	2.5	5.2	3,142	6.7
	Independent	3	-	-		7.5	6.7	4,083	0.6
	Scottish Green	0	-	-		0.0	3.4	2,083	2.5
	Scotland Independent Network	0	-	-		0.0	0.1	78	0.8

Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes. The net gain/loss and percentage changes relate to the result of the previous Scottish local elections on 3 May 2012. This may differ from other published sources showing gain/loss relative to seats held at dissolution of Scotland's councils. There was also one less seat at this election than in 2012.

Source:^[4]

Ward results

Carse of Gowrie

• 2012: 2xSNP; 1xCon
• 2017: 1xSNP; 1xCon; 1xLab
• 2012-2017 Change:1xLab Gain from SNP

Carse of Gowrie - 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	Conservative	Angus Forbes	43.4	1,916
	SNP	Beth Pover	18.3	810	829.9	884.01	910.09	910.6	1,579.08
	SNP	Douglas Pover (incumbent)	15.1	668	681.1	692.1	715.6	715.8
	Labour	Alasdair Bailey	14.8	656	825.7	875.8	1,107.3
	Liberal Democrats	Mary Matheson	4.6	203	423.9	482.4
	Scottish Green	Hilary Charles	3.7	165	209
Electorate: 7,830   Valid: 4,418   Spoilt: 70   Quota: 1,105   Turnout: 4,488 (57.3%)

Strathmore

• 2012: 2xSNP; 1xCon; 1xLib Dem
• 2017: 2xCon; 1xSNP; 1xLib Dem
• 2012-2017 Change: 1xCon Gain from SNP

Strathmore - 4 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	Conservative	Dennis Melloy (incumbent)	26.7	1,833
	Liberal Democrats	Lewis Simpson (incumbent)	19.5	1,342	1,365.7	1,379.6
	SNP	Fiona Sarwar	18.2	1,251	1,266.9	1,267.8	1,267.9	1,355.9	1,417.8
	Conservative	Colin Stewart	15.2	1,047	1,418.9
	SNP	Ian Stratton	12.6	866	868.7	869.1	869.5	899.2	940.8
	Independent	Alan Livingstone *	3.9	270	277.2	282.2	283.4	358.08
	Scottish Green	Michael Gallagher	3.9	268	274.7	276.8	277.4
Electorate:     Valid: 6,877   Spoilt: 165   Quota: 1,376   Turnout: 7,042 (57.9%)

• = Sitting Councillor from Almond and Earn Ward.

Blairgowrie and Glens

• 2012: 2xSNP; 1xCon
• 2017: 2xCon; 1xSNP
• 2012-2017 Change: 1xCon Gain from SNP

Blairgowrie and Glens - 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5
	Conservative	Caroline Shiers (incumbent)	36.4	1,641
	SNP	Tom McEwan	23.4	1,055	1,067.8	1,074.1	1,099.2	1,154.3
	Conservative	Bob Brawn	19.9	897	1,341.5
	SNP	Alison Mulholland	13.5	609	616.8	621.7	658.5	682.3
	Scottish Green	Louise Ramsay	3.6	164	171.8	188.2
	Liberal Democrats	Gordon Clark	3.1	141	156.7	224.3	297.5
Electorate: 8,607   Valid: 4,507   Spoilt: 138   Quota: 1,127   Turnout: 4,645 (53.6%)

Highland

• 2012: 2xSNP; 1xCon
• 2017: 1xCon; 1xSNP; 1xIND
• 2012-2017 Change: 1xIND gain from SNP

Highland - 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5
	Conservative	Ian Campbell (incumbent)††	45.44	1,927
	SNP	Mike Williamson (incumbent)	19.22	815	843.76	877.11	911.6	1,578.94
	SNP	Kirsty Gowans	17.31	734	757.82	791.27	822.21
	Independent	Xander McDade	10.59	449	716.39	770.28	953.5	1,024.24
	Scottish Green	Mary McDougall	3.96	168	200.81
	Liberal Democrats	Kenneth Spittal	3.49	148	332.71	385.39
Electorate: TBC   Valid: 4,241   Spoilt: 65   Quota: 1,061   Turnout: 4,306 (58.4%)

Strathtay

• 2012: 2xSNP; 1xCon
• 2017: 2xCon; 1xSNP
• 2012-2017 Change: 1xCon Gain from SNP

Strathtay - 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	Conservative	Anne Jarvis	25.28	1,307
	Conservative	Ian James	19.63	1,015	1,027.68	1,066.73	1,090.78	1,222.92	1,236.93
	SNP	Grant Laing (incumbent)	19.52	1,009	1,009.15	1,033.15	1,094.15	1,164.17	2,133.22
	SNP	John Kellas (incumbent)	18.28	945	945.13	955.13	1,018.13	1,112.13
	Labour	Frank Stevenson	8.96	463	463.28	510.32	593.34
	Scottish Green	Elspeth Coutts	4.24	219	219.12	277.16
	Liberal Democrats	Alex Linklater	4.1	212	212.18
Electorate: TBC   Valid: 5,170   Spoilt: 81   Quota: 1,293   Turnout: 5,251 (57.6%)

Strathearn

• 2012: 1xSNP; 1xCon; 1xPICP
• 2017: 1xSNP; 1xCon; 1xPICP
• 2012-2017 Change: No Change

Strathearn - 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	Conservative	Roz McCall	26.54	1,204
	Independent	Rhona Brock (incumbent)	24.51	1,112	1,115.72	1,144.78
	SNP	Stewart Donaldson	13.34	605	605.11	608.11	609.08	681.3	715.67	1,204.12
	Conservative	Alex Menzies-Runciman	13.01	590	651.37	670.43	672.64	686.92	764.31	769.32
	SNP	John Fellows	10.6	481	481	485	485.55	513.66	537.82
	Independent	Craig Finlay	6.06	275	275.86	279.92	283.26	317.53
	Scottish Green	Lawrence Buckley	4.12	187	187.29	199.34	200.38
	Liberal Democrats	Tina Ng-A-Mann	1.81	82	82.29
Electorate: TBC   Valid: 4,536   Spoilt: 121   Quota: 1,135   Turnout: 4,656 (54.4%)

Strathallan

• 2012: 1xCon; 1xSNP; 1xLib Dem
• 2017: 2xCon; 1xSNP
• 2012-2017 Change: 1xCon gain from Lib Dem

Strathallan - 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	Conservative	Murray Lyle (incumbent)	28.05	1,280
	Conservative	Crawford Reid	23.64	1,079	1,195.76
	SNP	Tom Gray (incumbent)	14.61	667	669.37	670.14	673.14	705.19	736.49	1,279.99
	SNP	Mairi MacDonald	12.66	578	579.29	580.0	581	616.26	631.26
	Liberal Democrats	Ann Gaunt (incumbent)	11.79	538	546.52	563.61	565.76	628.41	752.12	788.79
	Labour	Fhinan Beyts	5.15	235	235.97	239.95	243.33	266.7
	Scottish Green	Bruce Fummey	3.7	169	169.75	171.72	175.92
	Independent	Ron Rose	0.39	18	18.86	22.27
Electorate: TBC   Valid: 4,564   Spoilt: 78   Quota: 1,142   Turnout: 4,642 (54.5%)

Kinross-shire

• 2012: 2xIndependent; 1xLib Dem; 1xSNP
• 2017: 1xCon; 1xSNP; 1xLib Dem; 1xIND
• 2012-2017 Change:1xCon gain from IND

Kinross-shire - 4 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	Conservative	Callum Purves	26.73	1,642
	SNP	Richard Watters	19.03	1,169	1,171.77	1,224.77	1,253.02
	Liberal Democrats	Willie Robertson (incumbent)	17.29	1,062	1,104.51	1,128.76	1,235.76
	Independent	Mike Barnacle (incumbent) ††††††	12.16	747	759.07	777.07	807.07	813.07	814.7	1,272.92
	Independent	Dave Cuthbert (incumbent)	9.77	600	618.86	637.12	689.37	695.79	698.03
	Conservative	John Ross	7.96	489	803.91	807.15	831.18	832.08	833.3	907.43
	Labour	David MacKenzie	4.77	293	299.04	311.04
	Scottish Green	Karen Grunwell	2.31	142	143
Electorate: TBC   Valid: 6,144   Spoilt: 59   Quota: 1,229   Turnout: 6,203 (58.3%)

Almond and Earn

• 2012: 1xCon; 1xSNP; 1xIndependent
• 2017: 2xCon; 1xSNP
• 2012-2017 Change: 1xCon gain from IND

Almond and Earn - 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5
	Conservative	Kathleen Baird (incumbent)	42.08	1,724
	SNP	Henry Anderson (incumbent)†††††	21.53	882	899.84	905.35	972.91	1,312.13
	Conservative	David Illingworth	17.5	717	1,324.36
	SNP	Peter Glennie	8.05	330	332.43	335.48	379.6
	Liberal Democrats	Chris Rennie	5.61	230	253.52	344.1	435.66	445.7
	Scottish Green	Linda Buchan	5.22	214	232.25	254.07
Electorate: TBC   Valid: 4,097   Spoilt: 113   Quota: 1,025   Turnout: 4,210 (55.2%)

Perth City South

• 2012: 1xLib Dem; 1xCon; 1xSNP; 1xLab
• 2017: 1xLib Dem; 1xCon; 2xSNP;
• 2012-2017 Change: 1xSNP gain from Lab

Perth City South - 4 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	Liberal Democrats	William Wilson (incumbent)	34.66	2,417
	Conservative	Michael Jamieson†	25.2	1,757
	SNP	Bob Band (incumbent) ††††	14.9	1,039	1,151.05	1,158.26	1,169.32	1,226.72	1,267.05	1,381.62
	SNP	Sheila McCole	10.81	754	828.42	831.92	837.24	904.96	944.39	1,083.36
	Labour	Alistair Munro (incumbent)	6.37	444	615.25	678.5	702.63	780.71	902.22
	Independent	Susan Bathgate	3.63	253	417.9	471.68	560.41	600.75
	Scottish Green	Paul Vallot	3.05	213	306.45	322.72	337.21
	Independent	Damian Houston	1.38	96	176.34	211.16
Electorate: TBC   Valid: 6,973   Spoilt: 113   Quota: 1,395   Turnout: 7,086 (55%)

Perth City North

• 2012: 2xSNP; 2xLab
• 2017: 2xSNP; 1xCon
• 2012-2017 Change: 1xCon gain from Lab

Perth City North - 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	SNP	Dave Doogan (incumbent) †††	35.37	1,290
	Conservative	Harry Coates	25.58	933
	Labour	Calum Gillies (incumbent)	15.82	577	596.34	601.15	606.47	619.92	674.5	722.49
	SNP	John Rebbeck	13.16	480	797.63	798.15	799.44	817.98	836.76	870.49	1,047.4
	Liberal Democrats	Philip Brown	3.45	126	131.86	135.71	137.73	141.91
	Independent	Elspeth MacLachlan (incumbent)*	3.1	113	118.57	120.01	124.05	188.88	213.64
	Independent	Sam Finlayson	2.5	91	97.45	99.45	119.88
	Independent	Arthur Frater	1.01	37	38.17	38.53
Electorate: TBC   Valid: 3,647   Spoilt: 108   Quota: 912   Turnout: 3,755 (41.1%)

*served as councillor for the SNP in previous term

Perth City Centre

• 2012: 1xSNP; 1xLib Dem; 1xLab; 1xCon
• 2017: 1xCon; 2xSNP; 1xLib Dem
• 2012-2017 Change: 1xSNP gain from Lab

Perth City Centre - 4 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	Conservative	Chris Ahern	32.75	1,763
	SNP	Eric Drysdale	19.99	1,076	1,091.17
	Liberal Democrats	Peter Barrett (incumbent)	19.28	1,038	1,313.87
	SNP	Andrew Parrott (incumbent)	14.08	758	763.06	780.22	792.2	792.21	809.79	895.96	1,086.4
	Labour	Tricia Duncan	8.81	474	554.93	627.55	628.32	633.9	668.24	739.77
	Scottish Green	Fraser Hunter	3.23	174	191.51	218.62	219.19	225.54	250.69
	Scotland Independent Network	Ian Thomson	1.45	78	132.08	152.44	152.56	173.49
	Independent	David West	0.41	22	44.57	54.84	54.87
Electorate: TBC   Valid: 5,383   Spoilt: 129   Quota: 1,077   Turnout: 5,512 (44.7%)

Aftermath

On 29 March 2021 Kinross-shire councillor Mike Barnacle joined the Conservative group.^[5]

By-elections

Perth City South by-election (2017)

On 25 September 2017, Perth City South Conservative councillor Michael Jamieson resigned his seat having been found to be in possession of indecent images.^[6] A by-election took place on 23 November 2017. The seat was won by the Conservative candidate, Audrey Coates.

Perth City South by-election (23 November 2017) - 1 seat^[7]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	SNP	Pauline Leitch	32.1	1,780	1,781	1,813	1,883	2,227
	Conservative	Audrey Coates	31.2	1,734	1,738	1,744	1,762	2,381	2,863
	Liberal Democrats	Liz Barrett	28.8	1,597	1,601	1,627	1,733
	Labour	Tricia Duncan	5.7	314	319	332
	Scottish Green	Elspeth MacLachlan	1.8	102	105	332
	Independent	Denise Baykal	0.5	25
Electorate: 12,998   Valid: 5,552   Spoilt: 55   Quota: 2,777   Turnout: 43.1%

Highland by-election

On 6 February 2018 Highland Conservative councillor Ian Campbell died suddenly.^[8] A by-election was held on 19 April 2018 and was won by the Conservative candidate John Duff.

Highland by-election (19 April 2018) - 1 seat^[9]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	Conservative	John Duff	46.7	1,907	1,908	1,923	1,930	1,977	2,084
	SNP	John Kellas	35.9	1,466	1,467	1,472	1,509	1,594	1,712
	Independent	Avril Taylor	6.9	280	286	299	325	391
	Labour	Jayne Ramage	5.8	239	240	256	280
	Scottish Green	Mary McDougall	2.5	104	106	118
	Liberal Democrats	Chris Rennie	1.9	78	78
	Independent	Denise Baykal	0.3	12
Electorate: 7,333   Valid: 4,086   Spoilt: 31   Quota: 2,044   Turnout: 56.2%

Perth City South by-election (2020)

On 26 March 2020 Perth City South SNP councillor Bob Band died after a long battle with cancer.^[10] A by-election was held on 26 November 2020 and won by the Liberal Democrat candidate Liz Barrett.

Perth City South by-election (26 November 2020) - 1 seat^[11]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	SNP	Iain MacPherson	32.9	1,898	1,900	1,960	2,017	2,110
	Liberal Democrats	Liz Barrett	31.6	1,823	1,824	1,851	1,925	2,749	3,571
	Conservative	Andy Chan	29.4	1,698	1,705	1,713	1,729
	Labour	Tricia Duncan	3.5	204	205	224
	Scottish Green	Elspeth MacLachlan	2.3	135	136
	UKIP	Lynda Davis	0.3	18
Turnout: 44.0%

Perth City North by-election

On 19 February 2020 Perth City North SNP councillor Dave Doogan resigned his seat having been elected as an MP for Angus at the 2019 UK Parliament Election.^[12] A by-election was held on 26 November 2020 and won by the SNP candidate Ian Massie.

Perth City South by-election (26 November 2020) - 1 seat^[11]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1
	SNP	Ian Massie	61.0	1,406
	Conservative	Aziz Rehman	22.9	528
	Labour	Nicola Ferry	9.5	220
	Liberal Democrats	James Graham	3.9	91
	Scottish Green	Paul Vallot	2.6	60
Turnout: 25.5%

Almond and Earn by-election

On 27 December 2020 Almond and Earn SNP councillor Henry Anderson died having contacted Coronavirus. A by-election was held on 25 March 2021 and won by the Conservative candidate Frank Smith.^[13]

Almond and Earn by-election (25 March 2021) - 1 seat^[14]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1
	Conservative	Frank Smith	51.2	1,819
	SNP	Michelle Frampton	37.3	1,327
	Labour	Craig Masson	7.5	267
	Liberal Democrats	Claire McLaren	4.0	143
Electorate: TBC   Valid: 3,556   Spoilt: 17   Turnout: 3,573