1974 Scottish local elections

There were elections for the Scottish district councils on Tuesday 7 May 1974, for both the new regional and district councils, between the two United Kingdom general elections of February and October in that same year.

These were the first elections held to the 53 district councils established by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973. The Labour Party did reasonably well and the Scottish National Party (SNP) did not. The councillors acted as "shadow" councils until May 1975, when the Monarchy of the United Kingdom approved by Royal Assent the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973.^[1]

Results

National results

style="width: 2px; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Scottish Labour Party" | style="width: 2px; background-color: #0087DC;" data-sort-value="Scottish Conservative Party" | style="width: 2px; background-color: #FDF38E;" data-sort-value="Scottish National Party" | style="width: 2px; background-color: #FFD700;" data-sort-value="Liberal Party (UK)" |

e • d **Summary of the 1974 Scottish local regional election results^[2]^[3]^[4]**
Parties		Votes	Votes %	Wards
Labour	658,089	38.5	172
Conservative	488,905	28.6	112
SNP	215,502	12.6	18
Liberal	87,333	5.1	11
style="width: 10px" bgcolor=Template:Other/meta/color\|	Independent/Other	261,372	15.3	114/5
Total

style="width: 2px; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Scottish Labour Party" | style="width: 2px; background-color: #0087DC;" data-sort-value="Scottish Conservative Party" | style="width: 2px; background-color: #FDF38E;" data-sort-value="Scottish National Party" | style="width: 2px; background-color: #FFD700;" data-sort-value="Liberal Party (UK)" |

e • d **Summary of the 1974 Scottish District local council election results^[2]^[3]**
Parties		Votes	Votes %	Wards
Labour	619,531	38.4	428
Conservative	433,287	26.8	241
SNP	200,307	12.4	62
Liberal	80,232	5.0	17
style="width: 10px" bgcolor=Template:Other/meta/color\|	Independent/Other	280,946	17.5	345/17
Total

Note: Orkney, Shetland, and the Western Isles were governed at the district level as unitary authorities, meaning they were not included in any larger region.

Regional Results

Regional Councils^[3]

Council	Labour	Conservative	SNP	Liberal	Independent	Other	Total Seats	Control
Borders‡	0	7	0	3	13	0	29 style="width: 2px; background-color: #DCDCDC;" data-sort-value="Independent (politician)" \|	Independent	Details
Central‡	17	4	9	0	3	1	34 style="width: 2px; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Scottish Labour Party" \|	Labour	Details
Dumfries and Galloway‡	2	0	0	0	33	0	35 style="width: 2px; background-color: #DCDCDC;" data-sort-value="Independent (politician)" \|	Independent	Details
Fife‡	26	10	0	0	3	3 (1 Communist)	42 style="width: 2px; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Scottish Labour Party" \|	Labour	Details
Grampian‡	13	28	0	2	10	0	53 style="width: 2px; background-color: #0087DC;" data-sort-value="Conservative Party (UK)" \|	Conservative	Details
Highland‡	4	2	1	3	37	0	47 style="width: 2px; background-color: #DCDCDC;" data-sort-value="Independent (politician)" \|	Independent	Details
Lothian‡	24	19	3	1	1	1	49 style="width: 2px; background-color: black;" data-sort-value="No overall control" \|	No overall control	Details
Orkney‡							style="width: 2px; background-color: #DCDCDC;" data-sort-value="Independent (politician)" \|	Independent	Details
Shetland‡							style="width: 2px; background-color: #DCDCDC;" data-sort-value="Independent (politician)" \|	Independent	Details
Strathclyde‡	71	20	5	2	5	0	103 style="width: 2px; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Scottish Labour Party" \|	Labour	Details
Tayside‡	15	22	0	0	9	0	46 style="width: 2px; background-color: black;" data-sort-value="No overall control" \|	No overall control	Details
Na h-Eileanan Siar (Western Isles)‡							style="width: 2px; background-color: #DCDCDC;" data-sort-value="Independent (politician)" \|	Independent	Details

District Councils^[3]

Council	Labour	Conservative	SNP	Liberal	Independent	Other	Total Seats
Borders‡	1	9	0	0	44	0	54
Central‡	29	9	21	0	8	0	67
Dumfries and Galloway‡	5	1	1	0	61	2	70
Fife‡	43	24	2	1	10	4	84
Grampian‡	30	25	1	4	48	0	108
Highland‡	4	0	4	2	99	0	109
Lothian‡	62	38	8	3	5	1	127
Orkney‡
Shetland‡
Strathclyde‡	225	92	25	7	49	8	406
Tayside‡	29	43	0	0	21	1	94
Na h-Eileanan Siar (Western Isles)‡

The seats on each council after the election were as follows:^[5]

Borders

Council	Labour	Conservative	Independent	Other	Control
Berwickshire	0	10	2	0 style="width: 2px; background-color: #0087DC;" data-sort-value="Conservative Party (UK)" \|	Conservative
Ettrick and Lauderdale	1	0	14	0 style="width: 2px; background-color: #DCDCDC;" data-sort-value="Independent (politician)" \|	Independent
Roxburgh	0	0	13	Border Independents 3 style="width: 2px; background-color: #DCDCDC;" data-sort-value="Independent (politician)" \|	Independent
Tweeddale	0	0	10	0 style="width: 2px; background-color: #DCDCDC;" data-sort-value="Independent (politician)" \|	Independent

Central

Council	Labour	Conservative	SNP	Independent	Other	Control
Clackmannan	5	1	5	0	Scottish Labour 1 style="width: 2px; background-color: black;" data-sort-value="No overall control" \|	No overall control
Falkirk	16	2	12	3	Independent Labour 1 Non-Party 2 style="width: 2px; background-color: black;" data-sort-value="No overall control" \|	No overall control
Stirling	7	8	4	1	0		NOC

Dumfries and Galloway

Council	Labour	Conservative	SNP	Independent	Other	Control
Annandale and Eskdale	0	0	0	14	0 style="width: 2px; background-color: #DCDCDC;" data-sort-value="Independent (politician)" \|	Independent
Nithsdale	6	1	1	17	Non-Party 5 style="width: 2px; background-color: #DCDCDC;" data-sort-value="Independent (politician)" \|	Independent
Stewartry	0	0	0	12	0 style="width: 2px; background-color: #DCDCDC;" data-sort-value="Independent (politician)" \|	Independent
Wigtown	0	0	0	14	0 style="width: 2px; background-color: #DCDCDC;" data-sort-value="Independent (politician)" \|	Independent

Fife

Council	Labour	Conservative	SNP	Liberal	Independent	Other	Control
Dunfermline	17	5	3	1	4	0 style="width: 2px; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Scottish Labour Party" \|	Labour
Kirkcaldy	24	5	0	0	2	Ratepayers 4 Communist 1		NOC
North-East Fife	0	13	0	0	5	0 style="width: 2px; background-color: #0087DC;" data-sort-value="Conservative Party (UK)" \|	Conservative

Grampian

Council	Labour	Conservative	Liberal	Independent	Control
Banff and Buchan	0	0	0	18 style="width: 2px; background-color: #DCDCDC;" data-sort-value="Independent (politician)" \|	Independent
City of Aberdeen	28	17	3	0		Labour
Gordon	0	3	2	7 style="width: 2px; background-color: #DCDCDC;" data-sort-value="Independent (politician)" \|	Independent
Kincardine and Deeside	0	2	0	10 style="width: 2px; background-color: #DCDCDC;" data-sort-value="Independent (politician)" \|	Independent
Moray	0	0	0	18 style="width: 2px; background-color: #DCDCDC;" data-sort-value="Independent (politician)" \|	Independent

Highland

Council	Labour	SNP	Independent	Control
Badenoch and Strathspey	0	0	10 style="width: 2px; background-color: #DCDCDC;" data-sort-value="Independent (politician)" \|	Independent hold
Caithness	0	0	15 style="width: 2px; background-color: #DCDCDC;" data-sort-value="Independent (politician)" \|	Independent hold
Inverness	0	0	15 style="width: 2px; background-color: #DCDCDC;" data-sort-value="Independent (politician)" \|	Independent hold
Lochaber 2 vacancies	3	0	7 style="width: 2px; background-color: #DCDCDC;" data-sort-value="Independent (politician)" \|	Independent
Nairn	0	3	7 style="width: 2px; background-color: #DCDCDC;" data-sort-value="Independent (politician)" \|	Independent
Ross and Cromarty	0	0	20 style="width: 2px; background-color: #DCDCDC;" data-sort-value="Independent (politician)" \|	Independent hold
Skye and Lochalsh	0	0	10 style="width: 2px; background-color: #DCDCDC;" data-sort-value="Independent (politician)" \|	Independent
Sutherland	0	0	14 style="width: 2px; background-color: #DCDCDC;" data-sort-value="Independent (politician)" \|	Independent

Lothian

Council	Labour	Conservative	SNP	Liberal	Independent	Control
City of Edinburgh	27	31	2	3	1 style="width: 2px; background-color: black;" data-sort-value="No overall control" \|	No overall control
East Lothian	10	6	0	0	1 style="width: 2px; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Scottish Labour Party" \|	Labour
Midlothian	11	2	1	0	1		Labour
West Lothian	10	0	8	0	3		NOC

Strathclyde

Council	Labour	Conservative	SNP	Liberal	Independent	Others	Control
Argyll and Bute 1 vacancy	0	0	0	0	25	0 style="width: 2px; background-color: #DCDCDC;" data-sort-value="Independent (politician)" \|	Independent
Bearsden and Milngavie	1	5	0	0	4	0 style="width: 2px; background-color: black;" data-sort-value="No overall control" \|	No overall control
Clydebank	5	1	3	0	0	Scottish Labour 1 style="width: 2px; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Scottish Labour Party" \|	Labour
Cumbernauld and Kilsyth	3	0	7	0	0	0 style="width: 2px; background-color: #FDF38E;" data-sort-value="Scottish National Party" \|	SNP
Cumnock and Doon Valley	10	0	0	0	1	Scottish Labour 0 style="width: 2px; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Scottish Labour Party" \|	Labour
Cunninghame	14	0	1	0	2	Moderate Conservatives 7		Labour
Dumbarton	8	2	0	0	5	0		Labour
East Kilbride	5	2	7	0	1	0 style="width: 2px; background-color: black;" data-sort-value="No overall control" \|	No overall control
Eastwood	0	10	0	0	0	Ratepayers 2 style="width: 2px; background-color: #0087DC;" data-sort-value="Conservative Party (UK)" \|	Conservative
City of Glasgow	54	16	1	0	0	Independent Conservative 1		Labour
Hamilton	13	2	2	2	1	Independent Labour 0 style="width: 2px; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Scottish Labour Party" \|	Labour
Inverclyde	14	2	0	6	1	0 style="width: 2px; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Scottish Labour Party" \|	Labour
Kilmarnock and Loudoun	12	4	0	0	0	0		Labour
Kyle and Carrick	10	15	0	0	0	0 style="width: 2px; background-color: #0087DC;" data-sort-value="Conservative Party (UK)" \|	Conservative
Lanark	4	0	2	0	8	0		Independent
Motherwell	25	1	2	1	1	Communist 0 style="width: 2px; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Scottish Labour Party" \|	Labour
Monklands	15	4	1	0	1	0 style="width: 2px; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Scottish Labour Party" \|	Labour
Strathkelvin	6	5	3	0	0	0		NOC

Tayside

Council	Labour	Conservative	Independent	Others	Control
Angus	3	11	8	0 style="width: 2px; background-color: #0087DC;" data-sort-value="Conservative Party (UK)" \|	Conservative
City of Dundee	22	20	2	Real Labour 1 Monifeith Ratepayers 0		NOC
Perth and Kinross	4	19	6	0 style="width: 2px; background-color: #0087DC;" data-sort-value="Conservative Party (UK)" \|	Conservative

References

^ Faux, Ronald (5 May 1977). "SNP seizes 107 seats". The Times. pp. 1, 4.
^ ^a ^b Rallings, Colin; Thrasher, Michael (2013). Local Elections in Britain. Routledge. pp. Table 7.5.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d https://www.era.lib.ed.ac.uk/bitstream/1842/9006/1/1976_ref%202_Appendices.pdf
^ Scottish Elections
^ "Results of Scottish district council elections". The Times. 5 May 1977. p. 4.

[1] Faux, Ronald (5 May 1977). "SNP seizes 107 seats". The Times. pp. 1, 4.

[Rallings-2] Rallings, Colin; Thrasher, Michael (2013). Local Elections in Britain. Routledge. pp. Table 7.5.

[Council-3] ttps://www.era.lib.ed.ac.uk/bitstream/1842/9006/1/1976_ref%202_Appendices.pdf

[4] Scottish Elections

[5] "Results of Scottish district council elections". The Times. 5 May 1977. p. 4.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

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v t e (1973 ←) 1974 United Kingdom local elections (→ 1975)
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See also: UK General election (Feb) UK General election (Oct)