2022 Dundee City Council election

The 2022 Dundee City Council election took place on 5 May 2022, the same day as the 31 other Scottish local government elections.^[1] The election used the eight wards created under the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004, with 29 Councillors elected. Each ward elects either 3 or 4 members, using the STV electoral system - a form of proportional representation.

2022 Dundee City Council election

← 2017 5 May 2022 2027 →
All 29 seats to Dundee City Council 15 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party   Leader John Alexander Kevin Keenan Party SNP Labour Leader's seat Strathmartine Strathmartine Last election 14 seats, 41.3% 9 seats, 20.3% Seats won 15 9 Seat change 1 Popular vote 18,302 9,740 Percentage 41.4% 22.0% Swing 0.1% 1.7%   Third party Fourth party   Leader Fraser Macpherson Derek Scott Party Liberal Democrats Conservative Leader's seat West End The Ferry Last election 2 seats, 11.3% 3 seats, 17.2% Seats won 4 1 Seat change 2 2 Popular vote 7,312 4,861 Percentage 16.5% 11.0% Swing 5.2% 6.2%
The eight multi-member wards; colours denote the winning party, as shown in the main table of results.
Council Leader before election John Alexander SNP Elected Council Leader John Alexander SNP

The election resulted in the SNP gaining a majority, winning 15 seats after gaining a seat from Labour in the West End. Labour came second with no seat change from the last election, the Liberal Democrats gained two seats, rounding their total up to four and the Conservatives fell to fourth place, losing two seats making Derek Scott, the group leader, the sole councillor elected to the council. The sole Alba Party councillor, Alan Ross, who defected from the SNP, failed to retain his seat.

After the election, the SNP's Bill Campbell and Kevin Cordell were appointed Lord Provost and Deputy Lord Provost on 20 May 2022.^[2]

Background

Previous election

Main article: 2017 Dundee City Council election

At the previous election in 2017, the Scottish National Party (SNP) won 14 seats and as a result, was the largest party. Despite two losses, the SNP continued to govern however, they no longer held a majority after the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats made gains.^[3] Labour was the second-largest party on the council with 9 seats, the Conservatives won 3 seats, up two and the Liberal Democrats won 2 seats, up one.

2017 Dundee City Council election result

Party	Seats	Vote share
SNP	14	41.3%
Labour	9	20.3%
Conservative	3	17.2%
Liberal Democrats	2	11.3%
Independent	1	5.3%

Source:^[4]

Composition

After the 2017 election, there were several changes to the composition of the council. Most were changes to the political affiliation of councillors including North East councillor Gregor Murray who resigned from the SNP in May 2019 after accusing the party of being transphobic^[5] and Lochee councillor Alan Ross who first left the SNP to become an independent before defecting to Alba in February 2022.^[6] A single by-election was held during the 2017-22 term which resulted in an SNP gain from Labour.^[7]

Party		2017 election	Dissolution
	SNP	14	13
	Labour	9	8
	Conservative	3	3
	Liberal Democrats	2	2
	Independent	1	2
	Alba	-	1

Retiring councillors

There were four councillors elected at the 2017 election which will depart ahead of the 2022 election.

Ward	Party		Retiring councillor
Strathmartine		Independent	Ian Borthwick
Coldside		SNP	Anne Rendall
North East		Independent[a]	Gregor Murray
East End		Labour	Margaret Richardson

Debates and hustings

Ahead of the election, a series of debates and hustings were held throughout the campaign period. DC Thomson hosted an election debate on 21 April 2022 which was moderated by Derek Healey, the political editor of The Courier. The debate featured only leaders and representatives of the five parties on the council and an appeal for questions to be considered were featured.^[8][9] It was announced shortly after that the debate would be streamed on The Courier's social media pages on 25 April 2022.

A husting took place on 27 April 2022 which was organised and moderated by the Dundee Social Enterprise Network. The hustings featured representatives of the four parties on the council along with the inclusion of the Scottish Greens but not the Alba Party.^[10]

2022 Dundee City Council election debates and hustings

Date	Organisers	Moderator(s)	P  Present[b]    S  Surrogate[c]    NI  Not invited   A  Absent invitee  INV Invited
			SNP	Labour	Conservatives	Lib Dems	Greens	Alba	Audience	Ref.
21 April	DC Thomson	Derek Healey[d]	P Alexander	S McCready[e]	P Scott[f]	P MacPherson[g]	P Jones[h]	P Ross[i]	Virtual	[8]
27 April	Dundee SEN		S Short[j]	S McCready[k]	S MacKenzie[l]	S Crichton[m]	P Jones[n]	NI	Yes	[10]

Results

2022 Dundee City Council election result

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	SNP	15	1	0	1	51.7	41.4	18,302	0.1
	Labour	9	1	1		31.0	22.0	9,740	1.7
	Liberal Democrats	4	2	0	2	13.8	16.5	7,312	5.2
	Conservative	1	0	2	2	3.5	11.0	4,861	6.2
	Scottish Green	0	0	0		0.0	5.7	2,538	3.2
	Alba	0	0	0		0.0	2.4	1,053	New
	Scottish Family	0	0	0		0.0	0.6	268	New
	TUSC	0	0	0		0.0	0.2	95	1.4
	Sovereignty	0	0	0		0.0	0.1	38	New

Votes summary

↓

15	9	4	1
SNP	Labour	LD	Conservative

First preference vote share SNP   41.4% Labour   22.0% Liberal Democrats   16.5% Conservative   11.0% Green   5.7% Other   3.3%

Council seats SNP   51.7% Labour   31.0% Liberal Democrats   13.8% Conservative   3.5%

Ward summary

2022 Dundee City Council election by ward

Ward	%	Seats	%	Seats	%	Seats	%	Seats	%	Seats	%	Seats	Total
	SNP		Lab		Conservative		Lib Dem		Green		Others
Strathmartine	45.4%	2	22.8%	1	5.9%	0	18.7%	1	3.3%	0	3.2%	0	4
Lochee	43.2%	2	35.8%	2	8.4%	0	3.1%	0	3.1%	0	5.3%	0	4
West End	31.3%	2	10.9%	0	6.7%	0	40.3%	2	9.4%	0	1.4%	0	4
Coldside	44.5%	2	31.1%	2	7.9%	0	3.1%	0	9.9%	0	3.4%	0	4
Maryfield	47.4%	2	22.6%	1	8.8%	0	4.7%	0	10.6%	0	5.9%	0	3
North East	56.5%	2	26.6%	1	8.3%	0	2.6%	0	3.3%	0	2.6%	0	3
East End	52.8%	2	26.0%	1	10.7%	0	2.8%	0	4.1%	0	3.7%	0	3
The Ferry	27.6%	1	10.0%	1	23.0%	1	34.7%	1	3.0%	0	1.7%	0	4
Total	41.39%	15	22.03%	9	10.99%	1	16.54%	4	5.74%	0	3.29%	0	29

Incumbents defeated

Ward	Party		Defeated Councillor
Lochee		Alba	Alan Ross
West End		Conservative	Donald Hay
West End		Labour	Richard McCready
The Ferry		Conservative	Philip Scott

Ward results

Strathmartine

Strathmartine - 4 seats^[11]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3
	SNP	John Alexander (incumbent)	36.0	2,143
	Labour	Kevin Keenan (incumbent)	22.8	1,359
	Liberal Democrats	Daniel Coleman	18.7	1,116	1,169	1,226
	SNP	Stewart Hunter (incumbent)	9.4	559	1,310
	Conservative	Calum Walker	5.9	351	353	366
	Scottish Green	Callum Baird	3.3	199	268	284
	Alba	Laura Whyte	1.8	105	120	125
	Scottish Family	Susan Ettle	1.4	81	86	91
	TUSC	Maddie Jamieson	0.7	43	46	60
Electorate: 15,266   Valid: 5,956   Spoilt: 168   Quota: 1,192   Turnout: 40.1%

Lochee

Lochee - 4 seats^[11]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	SNP	Roisin Smith (incumbent)	37.2	2,174
	Labour	Charlie Malone (incumbent)	28.7	1,678
	Conservative	Gavin MacKenzie	8.0	488	492	505	531	543	543	603	623
	Labour	Wendy Scullin	7.0	412	448	820	846	872	876	935	1,085
	SNP	Siobhan Tolland	6.0	351	1,128	1,137	1,144	1,204
	Scottish Green	Kate Treharne	4.0	244	308	318	326	369	383	438
	Liberal Democrats	Jonathan Bremner	3.1	184	196	221	244	255	256
	Alba	Alan Ross (incumbent)	3.1	184	208	220	230
Electorate: 14,912   Valid: 5,843   Spoilt: 179   Quota: 1,169   Turnout: 40.4%

West End

West End - 4 seats^[11]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	Liberal Democrats	Fraser MacPherson (incumbent)	37.4	2,146
	SNP	Nadia El-Nakla	16.1	924	961	964	974	978	1,127
	SNP	Bill Campbell (incumbent)	15.2	872	922	923	939	946	1,058	1,119
	Labour	Richard McCready (incumbent)	10.9	624	731	734	740	831	928	931
	Scottish Green	Ted Booth	9.4	536	565	566	577	593
	Conservative	Donald Hay (incumbent)	6.7	386	453	453	547
	Liberal Democrats	Michael Crichton	2.9	165	821	823	836	1,021	1,102	1,105
	Alba	Annie Jenkins	1.1	54	68	72
	ISP	Brooke Labagh	0.3	14	17
Electorate: 14,626   Valid: 5,732   Spoilt: 104   Quota: 1,147   Turnout: 39.9%

Coldside

Coldside - 4 seats^[11]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	SNP	Heather Anderson	31.1	1,737
	Labour	George McIrvine (incumbent)	17.2	960	970	982	987	1,011	1,044	1,155
	Labour	Helen Wright (incumbent)	13.9	777	785	797	812	822	854	937
	SNP	Mark Flynn (incumbent)	13.4	751	1,275
	Scottish Green	Tanya Jones	9.9	551	584	636	656	702	764	808
	Conservative	Naveed Ali	7.9	444	446	448	450	463	485
	Liberal Democrats	Jenny Blain	3.1	176	179	183	185	195
	Alba	Scott Agnew	2.5	141	150	164	165
	TUSC	Wayne Scott	0.9	52	52	56
Electorate: 14,893   Valid: 5,589   Spoilt: 238   Quota: 1,118   Turnout: 39.1%

Maryfield

Maryfield - 3 seats^[11]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4
	SNP	Ken Lynn (incumbent)	24.6	1,037	1,037	1,042	1,093
	SNP	Lynne Short (incumbent)	22.8	960	962	974	1,005
	Labour	Georgia Cruickshank (incumbent)	22.6	956	957	1,017	1,062
	Scottish Green	Martha Smart	10.6	446	453	493	517
	Conservative	Danielle Marr	8.8	371	376	414	430
	Alba	Sundas Kamran	5.1	214	218	226
	Liberal Democrats	Rebecca Dewar	4.7	198	202
	Sovereignty	Ewan Gurr	0.8	34
Electorate: 12,749   Valid: 4,213   Quota: 1,054   Turnout: 33.9%

North East

2022 Dundee City Council election: North East (3 seats)

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1
	SNP	Steven Rome (incumbent)	30.4	1,150
	Labour	Jax Finniegan	26.6	1,007
	SNP	Willie Sawers (incumbent)	26.2	991
	Conservative	Lisa Franchi	8.3	313
	Scottish Green	Stuart White	3.3	126
	Alba	Heather McLean	2.7	102
	Liberal Democrats	Mark Smith	2.7	100
Electorate: 11,792   Valid: 3,789   Spoilt: 96   Quota: 948   Turnout: 32.9%

East End

East End - 3 seats^[11]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2
	SNP	Will Dawson (incumbent)	32.8	1,350
	Labour	Dorothy McHugh	26.0	1,071
	SNP	Christina Roberts (incumbent)	20.0	823	1,088
	Conservative	Bill Crabb	10.7	440	444
	Scottish Green	Alison McIntosh	4.1	168	184
	Alba	Allan Petrie	3.7	151	158
	Liberal Democrats	Outi Mȁȁttȁnen-Burke	2.8	115	120
Electorate: 12,005   Valid: 4,117   Quota: 1,030   Turnout: 35.2%

The Ferry

The Ferry - 4 seats^[11]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	Liberal Democrats	Craig Duncan (incumbent)	34.7	3,112
	SNP	Kevin Cordell (incumbent)	20.1	1,806
	Conservative	Derek Scott (incumbent)	18.5	1,661	2,064
	Labour	Pete Shears	10.0	899	1,150	1,156	1,157	1,168	1,180	1,292	1,462
	SNP	Qaiser Habib	7.5	674	819	820	829	832	867	1,030	1,043
	Conservative	Philip Scott (incumbent)	4.5	407	459	706	706	730	745	763
	Scottish Green	Mark Parsons	3.0	269	398	400	401	413	423
	Alba	Thomas Byrne	1.0	92	109	109	109	113
	Scottish Family	Carole Smith	0.7	59	87	88	88
Electorate: 16,211   Valid: 8,979   Quota: 1,796   Turnout: 56.3%

Aftermath

Lochee & Strathmartine by-elections

In July 2024 Lochee Labour councillor Charlie Malone died aged 63.^[12][13] This was followed in August by Strathmartine SNP councillor & Council Leader John Alexander deciding to leave politics to take up a new job at SSEN; he subsequently resigned as a councillor.^[14] By-elections to elect their replacements were scheduled for 3 October 2024.^[15] SNP candidate Lee Mills won the Lochee by-election while SNP candidate Jimmy Black won the Strathmartine by-election.^[16][17]

Lochee by-election (3 October 2024) - 1 seat

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	SNP	Lee Mills	37.3	1,203	1,211	1,226	1,292	1,369	1,390	1,742
	Labour	Marty Smith	35.6	1,148	1,167	1,211	1,236	1,285	1,357
	Conservative	Calum Walker	6.8	219	230	258	268	284
	Alba	Alan Ross	5.5	178	204	212
	Scottish Green	Katie Treharne	5.5	176	190	217	238
	Liberal Democrats	Outi Bourke	4.8	156	171
	Workers Party	John Reddy	4.4	143
Electorate: 15,237   Valid: 3,223   Spoilt: 31   Quota: 1,612   Turnout: 21.4%

Source:^[18][19]

Strathmartine by-election (3 October 2024) - 1 seat

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	SNP	Jimmy Black	35.0	1,188	1,205	1,260	1,274	1,426	1,835
	Liberal Democrats	Jenny Blain	26.9	912	932	963	1,016	1,394
	Labour	Richard McCready	26.9	911	929	947	972
	Conservative	Naveed Ali	4.2	143	145	150
	Scottish Green	Callum Baird	3.6	121	134
	TUSC	Donald Macleod	3.4	116
Electorate: 15,403   Valid: 3,432   Spoilt: 41   Quota: 1,696   Turnout: 22.3%

Source:^[20][21]

Notes

1. Originally elected as a Scottish National Party candidate
2. Denotes a main invitee attending the event.
3. Denotes a main invitee not attending the event, sending a surrogate in their place.
4. Political editor of The Courier
5. Richard McCready, Labour
6. Phillip Scott, Scottish Conservative group leader at Dundee City Council, councillor in The Ferry ward
7. Fraser MacPherson, Scottish Liberal Democrat group leader at Dundee City Council, councillor in the West End ward
8. Tanya Jones, Scottish Green candidate for the Coldside ward
9. Alan Ross, Alba Party sole representative at Dundee City Council, councillor for Lochee ward
10. Lynne Short, SNP councillor for the Maryfield ward
11. Richard McCready, Labour
12. Gavin MacKenzie, Conservative
13. Michael Crichton, Liberal Democrats
14. Tanya Jones, Scottish Green candidate for the Coldside ward