2022 Stirling Council election

The 2022 Stirling Council election was held on 5 May 2022, the same day as the 31 other local authorities in Scotland. The election used the seven wards created under the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004, with 23 councillors being elected. Each ward elected either 3 or 4 members, using the STV electoral system.

2022 Stirling Council election

← 2017 5 May 2022 (2022-05-05) 2027 →
All 23 seats to Stirling Council 12 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Leader Scott Farmer Neil Benny Danny Gibson Party SNP Conservative Labour Leader's seat Stirling West Stirling West Stirling North Last election 9 seats, 34.7% 9 seats, 37.2% 4 seats, 16.2% Seats before 8 9 4 Seats won 8 7 6 Seat change 1 2 2 Popular vote 12,196 11,522 5,899 Percentage 33.3% 31.5% 16.1% Swing 1.4% 5.7% 0.1%   Fourth party Fifth party   Leader Alasdair Tollemache Alasdair MacPherson Party Scottish Green Independent Leader's seat Dunblane and Bridge of Allan Bannockburn Last election 1 seat, 6.6% 0 seat, 2.0% Seats before 1 2 Seats won 1 1 Seat change 1 Popular vote 2,546 2,103 Percentage 7.0% 5.7% Swing 0.4% 2.4%
The 7 multi-member wards
Council Leader before election Scott Farmer SNP Council Leader after election Chris Kane Labour

The election saw Labour increase their representation on the council by two and significantly increase their vote share. The SNP lost one seat and the Greens retained their single seat. The Conservatives saw their representation on the council drop by two seats. The Liberal Democrats failed to win representation and one independent candidate won a seat.

Results

2022 Stirling Council election result

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	SNP	8	0	1	1	34.8	33.3	12,196	1.4
	Conservative	7	0	2	2	30.4	31.5	11,522	5.7
	Labour	6	2	0	2	26.1	16.1	5,899	0.1
	Scottish Green	1	0	0		4.3	7.0	2,546	0.4
	Independent	1	1	0	1	4.3	5.7	2,103	2.4
	Liberal Democrats	0	0	0		0.0	5.0	1,841	1.7
	Scottish Family	0	0	0		0.0	1.2	428	New
	Alba	0	0	0		0.0	0.2	61	New
Total		23						36,596

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 4 May 2017. This may differ from other published sources showing gain/loss relative to seats held at dissolution of Scotland's councils.

Ward results

Trossachs and Teith

• 2017: 2xCon; 1xSNP
• 2022: 2xCon; 1xSNP
• 2017-2022: No change

Trossachs and Teith - 3 seats^[1]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	Conservative	Martin Earl (incumbent)	37.8	2,031
	SNP	Gene Maxwell	19.2	1,031	1,053.0	1,054.0	1,064.7	1,238.4	1,377.5
	SNP	John Watson	14.2	761	773.5	774.5	785.5	874.2	945.2	974.7
	Labour	Josh Hamilton	9.1	491	530.6	534.9	610.1	764.2
	Scottish Green	Wendy Faulkner	8.3	444	480.2	485.5	537.6
	Conservative	Elaine Watterson	7.2	385	881.6	893.3	926.7	950.9	1,078.8	1,079.2	1,262.4
	Liberal Democrats	Galen Milne	3.5	188	218.4	223.8
	Scottish Family	Dolores Hughes	0.8	41	46.1
Electorate: 9,475   Valid: 5,372   Spoilt: 100   Quota: 1,344   Turnout: 57.8%

Forth and Endrick

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

Forth and Endrick - 3 seats^[2]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	SNP	Rosemary Fraser	24.1	1,451	1,454.0	1,484.0	1,570.0
	Conservative	Paul Henke	18.8	1,130	1,140.0	1,180.0	1,272.0	1,272.4	1,291.1	2,334.0
	Conservative	Thomas Heald	17.3	1,043	1,048.0	1,071.0	1,153.0	1,153.3	1,175.6
	Labour	Gerry McGarvey	14.0	846	857.0	996.0	1,137.0	1,140.4	1,438.0	1,481.1
	SNP	Paul Goodwin	11.1	671	672.0	687.0	719.0	776.4
	Independent	Rob Davies‡ (incumbent)	7.8	468	489.0	548.0
	Liberal Democrats	James MacLaren	5.7	345	355.0
	Scottish Family	Liam McKechnie	1.1	69
Electorate: 10,854   Valid: 6,023   Spoilt: 72   Quota: 1,506   Turnout: 56.2%

Dunblane and Bridge of Allan

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

Dunblane and Bridge of Allan - 4 seats^[3]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
	Conservative	Douglas Dodds (incumbent)	21.6	1,536
	SNP	Graham Houston (incumbent)	17.8	1,266	1,268.0	1,269.0	1,293.0	1,317.3	1,815.3
	Scottish Green	Alasdair Tollemache (incumbent)	16.0	1,138	1,141.0	1,147.0	1,156.0	1,207.5	1,260.5	1,466.4
	Labour	Ewan Dillon	11.9	842	846.9	850.9	856.9	901.1	910.1	957.4	971.2	1,330.5	1,577.0
	Liberal Democrats	Fayzan Rehman	9.4	665	669.2	674.2	674.2	748.3	760.3	785.6	799.6
	Conservative	Willy Stirling	8.4	598	686.2	701.4	705.4	819.0	819.0	823.3	824.9	956.0
	SNP	Ahsan Khan	7.9	564	564.2	564.2	569.2	581.2
	Independent	Alastair George Majury (incumbent)	5.3	377	382.2	387.2	396.2
	Alba	Bill Cowan	0.9	61	61.1	64.1
	Scottish Family	Nickie Willis	0.7	50	50.3
Electorate: 11,911   Valid: 7,097   Spoilt: 102   Quota: 1,420   Turnout: 60.4%

Stirling North

• 2017: 2xSNP; 1xCon; 1xLab
• 2022: 2xSNP; 1xCon; 1xLab
• 2012-2017: No change

Stirling North - 4 seats^[4]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	SNP	Susan McGill (incumbent)	25.7	1,305
	Conservative	Rachel Nunn	22.8	1,161
	Labour	Danny Gibson (incumbent)	20.2	1,029
	SNP	Jim Thomson (incumbent)	12.6	642	872.7	878.2	879.6	886.3	908.4	1,474.8
	Scottish Green	Amy Smith	13.7	695	727.3	735.6	737.9	751.7	852.1
	Liberal Democrats	Oliver Franklin	3.7	190	195.3	254.1	257.6	276.2
	Scottish Family	Shena McLelland	1.3	64	64.9	77.7	78.3
Electorate: 11,589   Valid: 5,117   Spoilt: 91   Quota: 1,018   Turnout: 44.7%

Stirling West

• 2012: 1xLab; 1xSNP; 1xCon
• 2017: 1xCon; 1xSNP; 1xLab
• 2012-2017 Change: No change

Stirling West - 3 seats^[5]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	Conservative	Neil Benny (incumbent)	23.8	1,313	1,334.0	1,364.0	2,041.0
	SNP	Scott Farmer (incumbent)	21.9	1,207	1,214.0	1,239.0	1,240.0	1,258.9	1,279.9	2,038.4
	Labour	Jen Preston	20.0	1,100	1,118.0	1,268.0	1,302.0	1,509.2
	SNP	Morag Fulton	13.8	760	768.0	792.0	801.0	809.1	834.0
	Conservative	Alastair Pettigrew	13.3	730	742.0	762.0
	Liberal Democrats	Dick Moerman	5.2	285	296.0
	Scottish Family	Michael Willis	2.0	110
Electorate: 10,192   Valid: 5,505   Spoilt: 95   Quota: 1,377   Turnout: 54.9%

Stirling East

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

Stirling East - 3 seats^[6]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	SNP	Gerry McLaughlan	30.7	1,177
	Conservative	Bryan Flannagan (incumbent)	23.3	893	895.0	905.0	925.0	931.2	999.2
	Labour	Chris Kane (incumbent)	21.6	829	839.4	848.4	877.7	933.9	1,019.6
	SNP	Grant Thoms	8.0	306	488.4	497.4	502.2	578.7	650.0
	Independent	Gary McGrow	7.9	303	305.8	310.8	323.0	359.7
	Scottish Green	Linda Hendry	4.7	182	189.8	194.1	213.9
	Liberal Democrats	Gordon Murphy	2.4	91	93.2	98.2
	Scottish Family	David Tortolano	1.4	53	53.6
Electorate: 8,587   Valid: 3,834   Spoilt: 71   Quota: 959   Turnout: 45.5%

Bannockburn

• 2017: 2xSNP; 1xLab
• 2022: 1xSNP; 1xLab; 1xInd
• 2017-2022 Change: 1 Ind gain from SNP

Bannockburn - 3 seats^[7]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	Independent	Alasdair MacPherson (incumbent)	26.0	955
	Labour	Margaret Brisley (incumbent)	20.7	762	770.1	775.3	794.8	813.3	839.8	900.8	1,188.2
	SNP	Brian Hambly	20.4	749	755.2	756.3	764.6	786.9	1,085.1
	Conservative	Stuart McLuckie	19.1	702	705.1	717.2	731.5	737.6	739.6	743.9
	SNP	Diane Tortolano	8.3	306	310.1	313.1	320.2	345.8
	Scottish Green	Marie Stadtler	2.4	87	88.8	93.0	101.1
	Liberal Democrats	Hilary MacPherson	2.1	77	78.5	81.6
	Scottish Family	Sophie Hendry	1.1	41	41.9
Electorate: 8,777   Valid: 3,679   Spoilt: 64   Quota: 920   Turnout: 42.6%

Notes

• ‡On 17 May 2017, Robert Davies (Forth and Endrick) was suspended from the Scottish Conservative party over potentially offensive Twitter posts.^[8][9] He was reinstated on 21 August 2017. However, on 29 September 2017, Robert Davies resigned from the Conservative group at a council meeting and subsequently had his Conservative party membership terminated. He ran as an independent in the 2022 election.^[10]

Aftermath

Despite the SNP winning the most seats, Labour formed a minority administration after the Conservatives voted in favour of it.^[11]

In October 2022, Labour councillor Ewan Dillon quit the party to become an independent. This reduced the ruling Labour administration to five councillors.^[12]

2023 Dunblane and Bridge of Allan by-election

A by-election was held in Dunblane and Bridge of Allan on 16 March 2023 following the death of SNP councillor Graham Houston.^[13]

Dunblane and Bridge of Allan by-election (16 March 2023) – 1 seat^[14]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	Conservative	Robin Kleinman	41.0	1,832	1,849	1,861	1,959	2,172	2,473
	SNP	Ahsan Khan	26.9	1,202	1,205	1,416	1,491	1,683
	Labour	David Wilson	13.4	600	609	670	871
	Liberal Democrats	Dick Moerman	8.9	399	404	475
	Scottish Green	Clare Andrews	8.7	389	390
	Scottish Family	Nickie Willis	1.1	50
Electorate: 11,792   Valid: 4,074   Spoilt: 26   Quota: 2,237   Turnout: 38.1

January 2024 Dunblane and Bridge of Allan by-election

A by-election was held in Dunblane and Bridge of Allan on 25 January 2024 following the resignation of Conservative councillor Douglas Dodds due to health concerns.

Dunblane and Bridge of Allan by-election (25 January 2024) – 1 seat

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	Conservative	Thomas Heald	37.8	1,644	1,653	1,714	1,738	1,998	2,286
	SNP	Ahsan Khan	23.3	1,000	1,006	1,037	1,266	1,531
	Labour	David Wilson	20.2	869	874	989	1,147
	Scottish Green	Clare Andrews	10.1	433	442	485
	Liberal Democrats	Dick Moerman	6.8	292	296
	Scottish Family	Michael Willis	1.2	50
Electorate: 11,778   Valid: 4,288   Spoilt: 27   Quota: 2,145   Turnout: 36.6

August 2024 Dunblane and Bridge of Allan by-election

A by-election was held in Dunblane and Bridge of Allan on 15 August 2024 following the resignation of independent councillor Ewan Dillon.

Dunblane and Bridge of Allan by-election (15 August 2024) – 1 seat

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	Conservative	Stuart McLuckie	27.9	1,143	1,214	1,284	1,328	1,361
	Labour	David Wilson	23.3	952	981	1,101	1,390	1,826	2,252
	SNP	John Watson	18.8	770	793	826	1,076
	Scottish Green	Andrew Adam	16.1	659	670	760
	Liberal Democrats	Dick Moerman	8.4	345	382
	Independent	Alastair Majury	5.5	225
Electorate: 12,057   Valid: 4,094   Spoilt: 21   Quota: 2,048   Turnout: 34.1

January 2025 Bannockburn by-election

A by-election was held in Bannockburn on 23 January 2025 following the death of Labour councillor Margaret Brisley.

Bannockburn by-election (23 January 2025) - 1 seats^[15]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	SNP	Bob Buchanan	35.9	565	590	597	605	664	863
	Labour	Yvonne Dickson	23.9	376	384	401	448	528
	Reform UK	William Docherty	22.7	358	360	367	425
	Conservative	Moira Benny	10.7	169	171	186
	Liberal Democrats	William Galloway	3.5	55	65
	Scottish Green	Marie Stadtler	3.4	53
Electorate: 9,097   Valid: 1,576   Spoilt: 22   Quota: 789   Turnout: 17.6%