2022 Midlothian Council election

Elections to Midlothian Council took place on 5 May 2022 as part of the 2022 Scottish local elections. The election used the six wards created under the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004, with 18 councillors being elected. Each ward elected three members, using the STV electoral system - a form of proportional representation.^[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 Third party   Leader Kelly Parry Derek Milligan Peter Smaill Party SNP Labour Conservative Leader's seat Midlothian West Bonnyrigg Midlothian East Last election 6 seats, 30.7% 7 seats, 30.2% 5 seats, 22.7% Seats before 7 6 5 Seats won 8 7 3 Seat change 2 2 Popular vote 11,844 10,575 5,270 Percentage 37.6% 33.5% 16.7% Swing 6.9% 3.3% 6.0%
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 Labour winning seven and the Conservatives three.^[2]

Background

Previous election

Main article: 2017 Midlothian Council election

At the previous election in 2017, the Labour party won the most seats at 7, closely followed by the SNP and the Conservatives, with 6 & 5 respectively. The Conservatives increased their vote share by over 14%, while Labour and the SNP dropped sharply in vote share, with 9.3%, and 8.8% drops respectively.

2017 Midlothian Council election result

Party		Seats	Vote share
	Labour	7	30.2%
	SNP	6	30.7%
	Conservatives	5	22.7%

Source:^[3]

Electoral system

The election used the 6 wards created following the fifth statutory review of electoral arrangements conducted by Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland in 2016, with 18 councillors elected. Each ward elected either three or four councillors, using the single transferable vote (STV) electoral system – a form of proportional representation – where candidates are ranked in order of preference.^[4]

Results

2022 Midlothian Council election

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	SNP	8	2	0	2	44.4	37.6	11,844	6.9
	Labour	7	0	0		38.9	33.5	10,575	3.3
	Conservative	3	0	2	2	16.7	16.7	5,270	6.0
	Green	0	0	0		0.0	5.3	2,542	1.6
	Liberal Democrats	0	0	0		0.0	4.8	1,025	2.8
	Alba	0	0	0		0.0	0.7	220	New
	Scottish Libertarian	0	0	0		0.0	0.2	58	New
Total		18						31,534

Source:^[5]

Wards

Penicuik

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

Penicuik - 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	SNP	Debbi McCall (incumbent)	31.8	1,639
	Labour	Willie McEwan	23.9	1,234	1,261	1,268	1,418
	Conservative	Richard Thomson	17.7	912	917	923	1,003	1,037	1,073
	SNP	Connor McManus	11.4	589	857	869	889	904	1,159	1,276
	Green	Helen Armstrong	7.4	383	409	416	482	508
	Liberal Democrats	Ken Brown	6.8	351	356	364
	Alba	George Boyd	0.8	46	46
Electorate: 11,133   Valid: 5,154   Spoilt: 88   Quota: 1,289   Turnout: 47.1%

Bonnyrigg

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

Bonnyrigg - 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4
	Labour	Derek Milligan (incumbent)	40.4	2,428
	SNP	Dianne Alexander	35.2	2,117
	Conservative	David Virgo	23.5	1,012	1,299	1,323	1,720
	Green	Daya Feldwick	7.6	459	735	1,155
Electorate: 14,239   Valid: 6,016   Spoilt: 57   Quota: 1,505   Turnout: 48.5%

Dalkeith

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

Dalkeith - 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	Labour	Stephen Curran (incumbent)	27.0	1,163
	SNP	Colin Cassidy (incumbent)	23.5	1,012	1,017	1,035	1,133
	Labour	Margot Russell (incumbent)	18.6	800	881	894	953	956	1,199
	SNP	Karen Green	11.6	501	503	508	602	648	663
	Conservative	Mark Wells	10.7	459	462	464	482	483
	Green	Marion Black	6.9	299	301	311
	Alba	Jamie Bryant	1.6	56	56
Electorate: 11,594   Valid: 4,306   Spoilt: 117   Quota: 1,077   Turnout: 38.1%

Midlothian West

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

Midlothian West - 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	Labour	Russell Imrie (incumbent)	26.7	1,645
	SNP	Pat Kenny	18.7	1,149	1,158	1,176	1,206	1,370
	Conservative	Pauline Winchester (incumbent)	18.6	1,144	1,161	1,167	1,323	1,386	1,397
	SNP	Kelly Parry (incumbent)	18.3	1,126	1,131	1,143	1,159	1,449	2,643
	Green	Jill Simon	10.1	624	636	649	773
	Liberal Democrats	Richard Chandler	6.5	400	431	441
	Alba	Andrew Coventry	1.2	74	76
Electorate: 13,917   Valid: 6,162   Spoilt: 105   Quota: 1,541   Turnout: 45.0%

Midlothian East

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

Midlothian East - 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5
	Labour	Bryan Pottinger	29.8	1,473
	Conservative	Peter Smaill (incumbent)	22.4	1,106	1,153	1,255
	SNP	Stuart McKenzie (incumbent)	21.2	1,045	1,060	1,079	1,080	1,254
	SNP	Ann Montague	12.5	616	634	657	658	805
	Green	Bill Kerr-Smith	8.7	428	456	575	578
	Liberal Democrats	Jenny Marr	5.5	274	336
Electorate: 12,229   Valid: 4,942   Spoilt: 58   Quota: 1,236   Turnout: 40.9%

Midlothian South

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

Midlothian South - 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	Labour	Kelly Drummond (incumbent)	25.1	1,243
	SNP	Ellen Scott	21.1	1,045	1,045	1,051	1,053	1,185	1,206	1,345
	SNP	Douglas Bowen	20.3	1,005	1,005	1,013	1,018	1,072	1,097	1,223
	Conservative	Robin Stenhouse	12.9	637	637	642	658	678
	Labour	Hazel Flanagan	11.6	573	576	579	588	680	999
	Green	Malcolm Spaven	7.0	349	349	356	370
	Scottish Libertarian	Daniel Fraser	1.2	58	58	63
	Alba	Christopher Hampton	0.9	44	44
Electorate: 12,524   Valid: 4,954   Spoilt: 120   Quota: 1,239   Turnout: 40.5%

Aftermath

On 24 May, the SNP group announced that it had secured support to run a minority administration in Midlothian.^[6] Kelly Parry was elected leader of the council with Debbi McCall serving as provost.^[7]