1974 Scottish local elections First party Second party Leader Harold Wilson Edward Heath Party Labour Conservative Leader since 14 February 1963 28 July 1965 Third party Fourth party Leader William Wolfe Jeremy Thorpe Party SNP Liberal Leader since 1 June 1969 18 January 1967
Elections for the Scottish district councils were held 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 provisions of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 came into effect.[ 1]
Results
National results Result of the Regional elections. 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 Independent/Other 261,372 15.3 114/5 Total
Result of the District elections. 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 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.
Council Results
Regional Councils [ 3]
District Councils [ 3]
Region Labour Conservative SNP Liberal Independent Other Turnout 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 district council after the election were as follows:[ 5]
Borders District Labour Conservative Liberal Independent Other Control Berwickshire 0 10 0 2 0 Conservative Ettrick and Lauderdale 1 0 0 14 0 Independent Roxburgh 0 0 0 13 Border Independents 3 Independent Tweeddale 0 0 0 10 0 Independent
Central District Labour Conservative SNP Liberal Independent Other Control Clackmannan 5 1 5 0 0 Scottish Labour 1 No overall control Falkirk 16 2 12 0 3 Independent Labour 1 Non-Party 2 No overall control Stirling 7 8 4 0 1 0 NOC
Dumfries and Galloway District Labour Conservative SNP Independent Other Control Annandale and Eskdale 0 0 0 14 0 Independent Nithsdale 6 1 1 17 Non-Party 5 Independent Stewartry 0 0 0 12 0 Independent Wigtown 0 0 0 14 0 Independent
Fife District Labour Conservative SNP Liberal Independent Other Control Dunfermline 17 5 3 1 4 0 Labour Kirkcaldy 24 5 0 0 2 Ratepayers 4Communist 1 NOC North-East Fife 0 13 0 0 5 0 Conservative
Grampian District Labour Conservative SNP Liberal Independent Control Banff and Buchan 0 0 0 0 18 Independent City of Aberdeen 28 17 0 3 0 Labour Gordon 0 3 0 2 7 Independent Kincardine and Deeside 0 2 0 0 10 Independent Moray 0 0 1 0 17 Independent
Highland District Labour SNP Independent Control Badenoch and Strathspey 0 0 10 Independent hold Caithness 0 0 15 Independent hold Inverness 0 0 15 Independent hold Lochaber2 vacancies 3 0 7 Independent Nairn 0 3 7 Independent Ross and Cromarty 0 0 20 Independent hold Skye and Lochalsh 0 0 10 Independent Sutherland 0 0 14 Independent
Lothian District Labour Conservative SNP Liberal Independent Control City of Edinburgh 27 31 2 3 1 No overall control East Lothian 10 6 0 0 1 Labour Midlothian 11 2 1 0 1 Labour West Lothian 10 0 8 0 3 NOC
Strathclyde District Labour Conservative SNP Liberal Independent Others Control Argyll and Bute1 vacancy 0 0 0 0 25 0 Independent Bearsden and Milngavie 1 5 0 0 4 0 No overall control Clydebank 5 1 3 0 0 Scottish Labour 1 Labour Cumbernauld and Kilsyth 3 0 7 0 0 0 SNP Cumnock and Doon Valley 8 1 0 0 1 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 No overall control Eastwood 0 10 0 0 0 Ratepayers 2 Conservative City of Glasgow 54 16 1 0 0 Independent Conservative 1 Labour Hamilton 13 2 2 2 1 Independent Labour 0 Labour Inverclyde 14 2 0 6 1 0 Labour Kilmarnock and Loudoun 12 4 0 0 0 0 Labour Kyle and Carrick 10 15 0 0 0 0 Conservative Lanark 4 0 2 0 8 0 Independent Motherwell 25 1 2 1 1 Communist 0 Labour Monklands 15 4 1 0 1 0 Labour Renfrew 25 10 1 0 3 CA 1 Labour Strathkelvin 6 5 3 0 0 0 No overall control
Tayside District Labour Conservative SNP Independent Others Control Angus 3 11 0 8 0 Conservative City of Dundee 22 20 0 2 Real Labour 1 Monifeith Ratepayers 0 NOC Perth and Kinross 4 19 0 6 0 Conservative
See also
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 "appendices" (PDF) . www.era.lib.ed.ac.uk. 1976. Retrieved 2 June 2021 . ^ "Scottish Elections". Scottish Elections. Retrieved 2 June 2021 . ^ "Results of Scottish district council elections". The Times . 5 May 1977. p. 4.