2022 Inverclyde Council election

The 2022 Inverclyde Council election took place on 5 May 2022,^[1] as part of the 2022 Scottish local elections on the same day as the 31 other Scottish local authorities were up for election. The election used the 7 wards created under the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004, last changed in 2017, with 22 councillors being elected. Each ward elected either 3 or 4 members, using the STV electoral system.^[2]

2022 Inverclyde Council election

← 2017 5 May 2022 2027 →
All 22 seats to Inverclyde Council 12 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party   Lab SNP Leader Stephen McCabe Elizabeth Robertson Party Labour SNP Leader's seat Inverclyde East Inverclyde North Last election 8 seats, 26.9% 7 seats, 32.8% Seats before 8 5 Seats won 9 8 Seat change 1 1 Popular vote 7,491 8,694 Percentage 32.5% 37.7% Swing 5.6% 4.9%   Third party Fourth party   Ind Con Leader Various David Wilson Party Independent Conservative Leader's seat Various Inverclyde East Last election 4 seats, 16.7% 2 seats, 17.6% Seats before 4 2 Seats won 3 2 Seat change 1 Popular vote 3,455 2,372 Percentage 15.0% 10.3% Swing 1.7% 7.3%
Council Leader before election Stephen McCabe Labour Council Leader after election Stephen McCabe Labour

At the previous election in 2017, the Labour Party won the most seats and formed a minority administration. The same happened at this election in 2022, with Stephen McCabe continuing as leader of the council after the election.

Background

Retiring councillors

Ward	Party		Retiring councillor
Inverclyde West		Independent	Ronald Ahlfeld
Inverclyde North		Labour	Martin Brennan
Inverclyde South West		Labour	Gerry Dorrian
Inverclyde South West		Liberal Democrats	Ciano Rebecchi

Results

2022 Inverclyde Council election result

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Labour	9	1	0	1	40.9	32.5	7,491	5.6
	SNP	8	1	0	1	36.4	37.7	8,694	4.9
	Independent	3	0	1	1	13.6	15.0	3,455	1.7
	Conservative	2	0	0		9.0	10.3	2,372	7.3
	Liberal Democrats	0	0	1	1	0.0	3.2	734	2.7
	Alba	0	0	0		0.0	1.5	342	New

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 5 May 2017. This may differ from other published sources showing gain/loss relative to seats held at dissolution of council.

Inverclyde East

• 2017: 1xCon; 1xSNP; 1xLab
• 2022: 1xCon; 1xSNP; 1xLab
• 2017-2022: Unchanged.

Inverclyde East - 3 seats ^[1]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1
	SNP	Christopher Curley (incumbent)		Unopposed
	Labour	Stephen McCabe (incumbent)		Unopposed
	Conservative	David Wilson (incumbent)		Unopposed

Inverclyde East Central

Inverclyde East Central - 3 seats ^[1]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5
	Labour	Robert Moran (incumbent)	31.5	1,016
	SNP	Kirsty Law	22.3	720	738.51	747.75	761.36	1,301.91
	SNP	Jim MacLeod (incumbent)	19.6	633	657.48	669.92	682.56
	Independent	Drew McKenzie (incumbent)	16.8	543	603.48	615.18	718.08	843.69
	Conservative	James Kelly	8.6	277	296.95	300.46
	Alba	Louise Williams	1.2	38	45.82
Electorate: 8,065   Valid: 3,227   Spoilt: 69   Quota: 807   Turnout: 40.9%

Inverclyde Central

Inverclyde Central - 3 seats ^[1]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5
	SNP	Pam Armstrong	34.2	968
	Labour	Michael McCormick (incumbent)	26.6	753
	Labour	Colin Jackson (incumbent)	21.2	599	617.26	651.09	675.42	782.88
	SNP	Agnes McAuley	8.2	231	450.44	452.03	509.05	516.11
	Conservative	Ian Bryson	6.0	169	170.07	171.09	176.36
	Alba	Jim McEleny (incumbent)	3.8	108	115.79	117.82
Electorate: 7,787   Valid: 2,828   Spoilt: 108   Quota: 708   Turnout: 2,936 (37.7%)

Inverclyde North

Inverclyde North - 4 seats ^[1]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	Labour	Francesca Brennan	25.5	1,284
	SNP	Elizabeth Robertson (incumbent)	22.3	1,122
	Conservative	Graeme Brooks (incumbent)	15.1	761	787.77	789.08	791.4	800.40	886.52	995.77	1,018
	SNP	Jenn Scott-McClafferty	12.0	606	615.64	713.63	738.14	744.36	766.40	826.21
	Labour	Jim Clocherty (incumbent)	10.4	526	716.4	719.52	728.94	733.46	799.36	862.95	1,138.36
	Liberal Democrats	Jacci Stoyle	6.2	312	323.34	325.06	330.06	336.92
	Independent	Gillian Maxwell	5.7	285	295.92	298.94	309.57	347.98
	Independent	John Davidson *	1.5	75	77.1	78.51	85.82
	Alba	Philomena Donnachie	1.4	70	71.5	73.32	74.3
Electorate: 10,353   Valid: 5,041   Spoilt: 128   Quota: 1,009   Turnout: 5,169 (49.9%)

• = Running under The Pensioner's Party

Inverclyde West

Inverclyde West - 3 seats ^[1]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1
	Independent	Lynne Quinn (incumbent)	30.2	1,440
	SNP	Sandra Reynolds	26.6	1,271
	Labour	Martin McCluskey	26.1	1,247
	Conservative	Ted Runciman	9.5	453
	Liberal Democrats	John Burleigh	3.6	171
	Alba	Christopher McEleny (incumbent)	2.6	126
	Independent	William Wilson	1.4	66
Electorate: 8,773   Valid: 4,774   Quota: 1,194   Turnout: 4,804 (54.8%)

Inverclyde South West

Inverclyde South West - 3 seats ^[1]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	SNP	James Daisley	29.7	1,206
	Labour	Paul Cassidy	28.9	1,175
	SNP	Innes Nelson (incumbent)	14.9	606	755.66	774.88	815.79	925.97	1,057.69
	Conservative	Lisa Dallas	12.5	507	510.15	540.6	632.83	727.67
	Independent	Paul Travers	7.8	316	326.56	343.87	411.97
	Liberal Democrats	Alasdair Higgins	6.2	251	259.82	306.77
Electorate: 9,531   Valid: 4,061   Spoilt: 59   Quota: 1,016   Turnout: 4,120 (43.2%.)

Inverclyde South

Inverclyde South - 3 seats ^[1]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4
	SNP	John Crowther (incumbent)	30.8	972
	Labour	Natasha McGuire (incumbent, (elected in 2017 as Natasha Murphy))	28.2	891
	Independent	Tommy McVey (incumbent)	23.1	730	743.12	777.91	915.99
	SNP	Irene McLeod	11.4	359	506.55	521.51	528.05
	Conservative	Georgina Halfnight	6.5	205	207.25	220.06
Electorate: 7,877   Valid: 3,157   Spoilt: 62   Quota: 790   Turnout: 3,219 (40.9%)

Aftermath

On 17 May 2022, Labour announced that it had secured enough support from independent councillors to form a new minority administration. Council Leader Stephen McCabe said: "I am delighted that after a week of discussions and negotiations with the other groups on the council I have been able to secure sufficient cross-group support for Inverclyde Labour to lead the next administration."^[3] Also, as part of the deal, Drew McKenzie became Inverclyde Council's first Independent Provost, with all previous Provosts being either Labour or Lib Dem councillors.^[4]

Inverclyde West by-election

On 3 September 2024, Labour councillor Martin McCluskey announced that he was resigning as a councillor after being elected as the Member of Parliament for the Inverclyde and Renfrewshire West constituency at the 2024 United Kingdom general election. A by-election has been scheduled for 7 November 2024.^[5][6] The by-election was won by the Labour candidate Ian Hellyer.

Inverclyde West by-election (7 November 2024) - 1 seat

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5
	Labour	Ian Hellyer	34.0	932	961	999	1,165	1,568
	SNP	Robert Kirkpatrick	33.7	923	939	1,050	1,082
	Conservative	Ted Runciman	15.2	415	485	515
	Alba	Christopher McEleny	8.7	239	258
	Reform UK	John Burleigh	8.4	230
Electorate: 8,775   Valid: 2,739   Spoilt: 19   Quota: 1,370   Turnout: 31.4%