2022 Midlothian Council election

The 2022 Midlothian Council election took place on 5 May 2022 as part of the 2022 Scottish local elections. The election used the seven wards created under the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004, with 23 councillors being elected. Each ward elected three members, using the STV electoral system.^[1]

2022 Midlothian Council election

← 2017 5 May 2022 (2022-05-05) 2027 →
All 18 seats to Midlothian Council 10 seats needed for a majority
Registered	75,636
Turnout	42.4%
First party Second party   Leader Kelly Parry Derek Milligan Party SNP Labour Leader's seat Midlothian West Bonnyrigg Last election 6 seats, 37.3% 7 seats, 29.0% Seats before 7 6 Seats after 8 7 Seat change 2 0   Third party   Leader Peter Smaill Party Conservative Leader's seat Midlothian East Last election 5 seats, 23.2% Seats before 5 Seats after 3 Seat change 2
Council Leader before election Derek Milligan Labour Council Leader after election Kelly Parry SNP

For the first time, the Scottish National Party emerged as the largest party on the council with eight seats, with Scottish Labour winning seven and the Scottish Conservatives three.^[2]

Results

2022 Midlothian Council election^[3]

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	SNP	8	2	0	2	44.44	37.6	11,844	6.93
	Labour	7	0	0	0	38.89	33.5	10,575	3.30
	Conservative	3	0	2	2	16.67	16.7	5,270	6.04
	Scottish Green	0	0	0	0	0.00	5.27	2,542	1.60
	Liberal Democrats	0	0	0	0	0.00	4.78	1,025	2.77
	Alba	0	0	0	0	0.00	0.7	220	0.70
	Scottish Libertarian	0	0	0	0	0.00	0.2	58	0.20

Wards

Penicuik

• 2017: 1xCon; 1xSNP; 1xLab
• 2022: 2xSNP; 1xLab
• 2017-2022: 1 SNP gain from Con

Penicuik - 3 seats^[4]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	SNP	Debbi McCall (incumbent)	31.80	1,639
	Labour	Willie McEwan	23.90	1,234	1,261.76	1,268.97	1,418.90
	Conservative	Richard Thomson	17.70	912	917.12	923.12	1,003.12	1,037.30	1,073.01
	SNP	Connor McManus	11.43	589	857.42	869.06	889.34	904.96	1,159.25	1,276.17
	Scottish Green	Helen Armstrong	7.43	383	409.27	416.27	482.19	508.33
	Liberal Democrats	Ken Brown	6.81	351	356.98	364.98
	Alba	George Boyd	0.83	46	46.85
Electorate: 11,133   Valid: 5,154   Spoilt: 88   Quota: 1,289   Turnout: 5,242 (47.1%)

Bonnyrigg

• 2017: 1xLab; 1xSNP; 1xCon
• 2022: 1xLab; 1xSNP; 1xCon
• 2017-2022 Change: No change

Bonnyrigg - 3 seats^[5]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4
	Labour	Derek Milligan (incumbent)	40.36	2,428
	SNP	Dianne Alexander	35.19	2,117
	Conservative	David Virgo	23.52	1,012	1,299.0	1,323.87	1,720.07
	Scottish Green	Daya Feldwick	7.63	459	735.74	1,155.49
Electorate: 14,239   Valid: 6,016   Spoilt: 57   Quota: 1,505   Turnout: 6,073 (48.5%)

Dalkeith

• 2017: 2xLab; 1xSNP
• 2022: 2xLab; 1xSNP
• 2017-2022 Change: No change

Dalkeith - 3 seats^[6]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	Labour	Stephen Curran (incumbent)	27.00	1,163
	SNP	Colin Cassidy (incumbent)	23.50	1,012	1,017.92	1,035.92	1,133.21
	Labour	Margot Russell (incumbent)	18.58	800	881.14	894.36	953	956.86	1,199.24
	SNP	Karen Green	11.63	501	503.29	508.29	602.51	648.35	663.57
	Conservative	Mark Wells	10.66	459	462.77	464.77	482.77	483.42
	Scottish Green	Marion Black	6.90	299	301.29	311.37
	Alba	Jamie Bryant	1.60	56	56.37
Electorate: 11,594   Valid: 4,306   Spoilt: 117   Quota: 1,077   Turnout: 4,423 (38.1%)

Midlothian West

• 2017: 1xCon; 1xSNP; 1xLab
• 2022: 1xCon; 1xSNP; 1xLab
• 2017-2022 Change: No change

Midlothian West - 3 seats^[7]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	Labour	Russell Imrie (incumbent)	26.70	1,645
	SNP	Pat Kenny	18.65	1,149	1,158.29	1,176.36	1,206.94	1,370.59
	Conservative	Pauline Winchester (incumbent)	18.57	1,144	1,161.7	1,167.89	1,323.75	1,386.98	1,397.23
	SNP	Kelly Parry (incumbent)	18.27	1,126	1,131.56	1,143.56	1,159.52	1,449.55	2,643.65
	Scottish Green	Jill Simon	10.13	624	636.77	649.22	773.32
	Liberal Democrats	Richard Chandler	6.49	400	431.1	441.18
	Alba	Andrew Coventry	1.20	74	76.09
Electorate: 13,917   Valid: 6,162   Spoilt: 105   Quota: 1,541   Turnout: 6,267 (45%)

Midlothian East

• 2017: 1xCon; 1xSNP; 1xLab
• 2022: 1xCon; 1xSNP; 1xLab
• 2017-2022 Change: No change

Midlothian East - 3 seats^[8]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5
	Labour	Bryan Pottinger	29.81	1,473
	Conservative	Peter Smaill (incumbent)	22.38	1,106	1,153.30	1,255.71
	SNP	Stuart McKenzie (incumbent)	21.15	1,045	1,060.93	1,079.79	1,080.28	1,254.15
	SNP	Ann Montague	12.46	616	634.34	657.59	658.26	805.99
	Scottish Green	Bill Kerr-Smith	8.66	428	456.16	575.88	578.78
	Liberal Democrats	Jenny Marr	5.54	274	336.91
Electorate: 12,229   Valid: 4,942   Spoilt: 58   Quota: 1,236   Turnout: 5,000 (40.9%)

Midlothian South

• 2017: 1xLab; 1xSNP; 1xCon
• 2022: 2xSNP; 1xLab
• 2017-2022 Change: 1 SNP gain from Con

Midlothian South - 3 seats^[9]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	Labour	Kelly Drummond (incumbent)	25.09	1,243
	SNP	Ellen Scott	21.09	1,045	1,045.09	1,051.09	1,053.09	1,185.1	1,206.12	1,345.55
	SNP	Douglas Bowen	20.29	1,005	1,005.13	1,013.13	1,018.13	1,072.13	1,097.13	1,223.54
	Conservative	Robin Stenhouse	12.86	637	637.10	642.1	658.11	678.11
	Labour	Hazel Flanagan	11.57	573	576.46	579.47	588.07	680.50	999.59
	Scottish Green	Malcolm Spaven	7.04	349	349.06	356.06	370.06
	Scottish Libertarian	Daniel Fraser	1.17	58	58	63
	Alba	Christopher Hampton	0.88	44	44
Electorate: 12,524   Valid: 4,954   Spoilt: 120   Quota: 1,239   Turnout: 5,074 (40.5%)

Aftermath

On 24 May, the SNP group announced that it had secured support to run a minority administration in Midlothian.^[10] Kelly Parry was elected leader of the council with Debbi McCall serving as provost.^[11]

Notes