Fortissat

Fortissat is one of the twenty-one wards used to elect members of the North Lanarkshire Council.^[2] Created in 2007, it originally returned three councillors; a 2017 national review resulted in no changes in the boundaries but an extra seat being added. The ward's territory covers the town of Shotts and surrounding areas (including Allanton, Bonkle, Harthill, Hartwood, Morningside and Salsburgh) with a population of 15,730 in 2019.^[3]

Location of the ward ^[1]

Councillors

Election	Councillors
2007		Jim Robertson (Labour)		Charles Cefferty (Ind.)		Malcolm McMillan (SNP)	3 seats
2012	Thomas Cochrane (SNP, then Ind.)
2017		Martin McCulloch (Labour)		Kenneth Stevenson (Labour)		Sandy Thornton (Conservative)
2017 by-					Clare Quigley (Labour)
2021 by-			Peter Kelly (Labour)
2022			Margaret Hughes (SNP)			John Jo Leckie (BUP)
2024 by-	Clare Quigley (Labour)

Election results

2024 by-election

Fortissat (10 October 2024) – 1 seat

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	Labour	Clare Quigley	36.6	807	818	834	892	1,007	1,292
	Progressive Change North Lanarkshire	Mary McIntosh	24.0	529	542	556	634	757
	SNP	Brendan McAleese	20.3	447	452	457	466
	BUP	Billy Acheson	10.9	241	245	297
	Conservative	Sheila Cameron	5.6	124	131
	Liberal Democrats	Leigh Butler	2.6	57
Electorate: 12,422   Valid: 2,205   Spoilt: 22   Quota: 1,103   Turnout: 17.9%

Source:^[4][5]

2022 election

Main article: 2022 North Lanarkshire Council election

Fortissat – 4 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	Labour	Martin McCulloch (incumbent)	22.5	1,028
	SNP	Margaret Hughes	20.8	949
	BUP	John Jo Leckie	18.8	859	864	864	870	1,136
	Labour	Kenneth Stevenson (incumbent)	14.0	636	729	730	753	867	957
	Conservative	Ben Callaghan	11.2	512	514	515	523
	SNP	Sarah Quinn	10.0	457	463	494	547	561	571
	Scottish Green	Emma Rachel Cuthbertson	2.6	118	119	121
Electorate: 12,104   Valid: 4,559   Spoilt: 123   Quota: 912   Turnout: 38.7%

Source:^[6][7]

2017 election

Main article: 2017 North Lanarkshire Council election

Fortissat - 4 seats^[8]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	Labour	Martin McCulloch	29.29	1,477
	SNP	Thomas Cochrane (incumbent)	20.15	1,016
	Conservative	Sandy Thornton	13.29	670	678	678	691	948	1,121
	BUP	Jeffrey McDonald	11.08	559	574	574	591
	Independent	Charlie Cefferty (incumbent)	10.09	509	527	527	661	754
	SNP	Mags Murphy	8.9	449	469	475
	Labour	Kenneth Stevenson	7.2	363	715	715	806	891	1,117
Electorate: 12,051   Valid: 5,043   Spoilt: 139   Quota: 1,009   Turnout: 5,182 (43.0%)

2017 by-election

Conservative candidate Sandy Thornton refused to sign his acceptance of office, resulting in the seat becoming vacant on 28 June 2017. A by-election took place on 7 September 2017 and was won by Clare Quigley of the Scottish Labour Party.^[9][10]

Fortissat By-election (7 September 2017) - 1 Seat^[11]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	Labour	Clare Quigley	38.5	1,420	1,421	1,426	1,466	1,546	1,827	2,117
	BUP	John Jo Leckie	23.3	858	865	867	913	1,088	1,139
	SNP	Mags Murphy	20.6	761	762	770	791	804
	Conservative	Norma McNab	11.5	424	427	428	459
	Independent	Charlie Cefferty	5.0	184	184	188
	Scottish Green	Kyle Davidson	0.7	24	26
	UKIP	Daryl Gardner	0.5	18
Electorate: 12,163   Valid: 3,689   Spoilt: 47   Quota: 1,845   Turnout: 3,736 (30.7%)

2021 by-election

On 8 May 2018, councillor Tommy Cochrane resigned from the SNP and became an Independent, citing lack of SNP support in the area.^[12] He resigned his seat on 18 March 2020 saying he was increasingly unable to manage personal and work commitments.^[13] A by-election was held in 2021 (delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic in Scotland), won by Labour's Peter Kelly.

Fortissat by-election (4 March 2021) - 1 Seat^[14]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4
	Labour	Peter Kelly	38.4%	1,071	1,073	1,093	1,408
	SNP	Sarah Quinn	34.6%	965	970	994	1,026
	Conservative	Ben Callaghan	23.5%	656	664	679
	Scottish Green	Kyle Davidson	2.5%	69	74
	UKIP	Neil Wilson	1.1%	31
Electorate: TBC   Valid: 2,792   Spoilt: 29   Quota: 1,397   Turnout: 23.3%

2012 election

Main article: 2012 North Lanarkshire Council election

Fortissat - 3 seats^[15]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5
	Labour	Francis Fallan	23.0%	983	988	1,022	1,023.4
	Labour	Jim Robertson (incumbent)	22.9%	982	1,000	1,046	1,048.3	1,843.2
	Independent	Charlie Cefferty (incumbent)	22.9%	981	1,023	1,079
	SNP	Thomas Cochrane	16.2%	695	700	1,062	1,063.4	1,136.6
	SNP	Malcolm McMillan (incumbent)	12.4%	529	543
	Conservative	Sandy Thornton	2.6%	111
Electorate: 11,314   Valid: 4,281   Spoilt: 94   Quota: 1,071   Turnout: 4,375 (38.67%)

2007 election

Main article: 2007 North Lanarkshire Council election

North Lanarkshire council election, 2007: Fortissat

Party		Candidate	FPv%	%	Seat	Count
	Labour	Jim Robertson	1,596	28.3	1	1
	Independent	Charles Cefferty	1,529	27.1	1	1
	SNP	Malcolm McMillan	1,396	24.7	1	2
	Labour	Clare Margaret Quigley	1,125	19.9