1968 Edinburgh Corporation election

1968 Edinburgh Corporation election
23 of the 69 seats to the Edinburgh Corporation ; 35 seats needed for a majority
	Results by ward.
Council control before election; ; No overall control	Council control after election; ; No overall control

Last updated October 15, 2025

An Election to the Edinburgh Corporation was held on 7 May 1968, alongside municipal elections across Scotland. Of the councils 69 seats, 22 were up for election. Despite receiving the most votes of any single party, the SNP won only 7 seats. Unlike in Glasgow, the Progressives and Conservatives did not run on a joint ticket.^[1] Despite that however the parties only ran competing candidates in the Gorgie-Dalry ward.

Following the election Edinburgh Corporation was composed of 34 Progressives (including the Lord Provost), 21 Labour councillors, 8 SNP councillors, 3 Conservatives, 1 Liberal, and 1 independent. Following the election the Progressive/Conservative coalition controlled the council with a majority of 6.

No election was held in the Holyrood ward, where the sitting Labour councillor died the week before the election.

Turnout was 140,987.

Aggregate results

Edinburgh Corporation election, 1968^[2]
	Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes
Progressives	10	0	0		45.45	26.87	37,885
SNP	7	6	0	6	31.82	34.83	49,111
Labour	3	0	2	2	13.64	19.15	26,997
Conservative	1	1	0	1	4.55	9.72	13,715
Liberal	1	0	0		4.55	6.46	9,105
Communist	0	0	0		0	1.74	2,462
Ind. Conservative	0	0	0		0	1.21	1,712

Ward results

Broughton
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Progressives	A. Theurer	2,239
	SNP	C. MacDougall	2,042
	Liberal	E. W. Hall	819
	Labour	I. R. Hoy	744
Majority			197
Turnout				48.31
	Progressives hold

Calton
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	SNP	W. Thomson	1,671
	Progressives	A. D. Wilson	1,637
	Labour	S. Cook	1,196
Majority			34
Turnout				43.22
	SNP gain from Labour

Central Leith
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	SNP	F. T. Chalmers	1,898
	Labour	T. H. Greig	1,393
	Progressives	D. Valentine	706
	Communist	T. C. Taylor	86
Majority			505
Turnout				36.51
	SNP gain from Labour

Colinton
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Progressives	D. M. Cameron	4,671
	SNP	A. Westwood	3,389
	Labour	R. D. M. Brown	1,450
Majority			1282
Turnout				48.71
	Progressives hold

Corstorphine
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Progressives	F. Ford	3,689
	SNP	A. McCallum	2,982
	Liberal	Vera P. Heggie	1,795
Majority			707
Turnout				51.29
	Progressives hold

Craigentinny
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	G. Drummond	2,627
	SNP	R. Anderson	2,566
	Conservative	Geraldine R. Johnston	1,586
Majority			61
Turnout				47.89
	Labour hold

Craigmillar
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	SNP	R. Dalrymple	2,590
	Labour	D. F. Renton	2,081
	Conservative	D. R. Anderson	823
	Communist	M. D'Arcy	145
Majority			509
Turnout				40.0
	SNP gain from Labour

George Square^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Progressives	W. Simpson-Bell	1,601
	SNP	T. C. Bogle	1,331
	Liberal	P.L. Newman	630
Majority			270
Turnout				36.59
	Progressives hold

Gorgie-Dalry
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	SNP	T. McCarron	2,088
	Labour	J. E. Boyack	1,591
	Conservative	M. Pirie	1,481
	Progressives	Miss Mar A. M. Hislop	511
	Liberal	R. T. Parker	140
	Communist	M. R. Currie	78
Majority			497
Turnout				44.02
	SNP hold

Liberton^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	P. Wilson	4,290
	SNP	A. G. Symington	3,635
	Conservative	J. F. Doyle	3,259
	Communist	J. Ashton	195
Majority			655
Turnout				51.83
	Labour hold

Merchiston^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal	R. L. Smith	2,803
	Conservative	B. A. Meek	1,800
	SNP	T. J. D. MacDonald	1,368
Majority			1003
Turnout				53.92
	Liberal hold

Morningside^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Progressives	R. Lorimer	3,025
	SNP	Catherina Moore	1,748
	Conservative	Sir Alexander Giles	1,650
Majority			1,277
Turnout			6,423	50.16
	Progressives hold

Murrayfield-Cramond^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Progressives	J. W. McKay	5,400
	SNP	R. A. Macdonald	3,181
	Labour	C. T. Harvie	1,281
Majority			2,219
Turnout			9,862	50.55
	Progressives hold

Newington^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Progressives	E. M. Kean	3,761
	SNP	G. W. Telford	2,745
	Labour	J. C. Campbell	985
	Liberal	J. Grahamslaw	909
Majority			1016
Turnout				53.37
	Progressives hold

Pilton^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Catherina T. Nealon	2,913
	SNP	W. Thompson	2,724
	Conservative	R. Beattie	795
	Communist	C. McManus	147
Majority			189
Turnout				34.33
	Labour hold

Portobello^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Progressives	A. W. Hunt	2,873
	SNP	R. G. Kelly	2,687
	Labour	D. H. Brown	869
	Liberal	G. H. T. Harvie	593
Majority			186
Turnout				51.74
	Progressives hold

Sighthill^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	SNP	G. D. M. Galbraith	3,621
	Labour	J. Ross	2,583
	Liberal	W. McLoed	533
	Communist	W. M. Millar	134
Majority			1,038
Turnout				45.35
	SNP gain from Labour

South Leith^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	SNP	Mary G. Thompson	2,320
	Progressives	L. Scott	1,922
	Labour	W. S. Dalgleish	1,708
Majority			398
Turnout				47.01
	Progressives gain from Labour

St. Andrews^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	D. Drummond-Young	1,661
	SNP	I. A. Macdonald	1,056
	Labour	I. L. Foggie	401
Majority			605
Turnout				39.19
	Conservative gain from Progressives

St. Bernard's^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Progressives	Winifred E. Donaldson	3,436
	SNP	W. K. Archibald	2,321
	Liberal	Joyce Shein	883
	Ind. Conservative	Elva G. Speyer	567
Majority			1,115
Turnout				42.78
	Progressives hold

St. Giles^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	SNP	J. McCann	1,148
	Labour	P. S. Wood	885
	Conservative	D. B. Harvey	660
Majority			263
Turnout				27.03
	SNP gain from Labour

West Leith
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Progressives	J. Scott	2,925	71.87
	Ind. Conservative	A. H. Lester	1,145	28.13
Majority			1780	43.74
Turnout			4070	36.90
	Progressives hold

References

↑ "We're all nationalists now" . The Spectator Archive. 17 May 1968.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 "Results in the Municipal Elections". The Glasgow Herald. 8 May 1968. p. 12.

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[1] "We're all nationalists now" . The Spectator Archive. 17 May 1968.

[Glasgow_Herald-2] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 "Results in the Municipal Elections". The Glasgow Herald. 8 May 1968. p. 12.

[1]

[2]

v t e (1967 ←) 1968 United Kingdom local elections (→ 1969)
London boroughs	Barking Barnet Bexley Brent Bromley Camden Croydon Ealing Enfield Greenwich Hackney Hammersmith Haringey Harrow Havering Hillingdon Hounslow Islington Kensington and Chelsea Kingston upon Thames Lambeth Lewisham Merton Newham Redbridge Richmond upon Thames Southwark Sutton Tower Hamlets Waltham Forest Wandsworth Westminster
County boroughs	Cardiff Leeds Liverpool Merthyr Tydfil Manchester Newport Sheffield Swansea
City corporations	Aberdeen Dundee Edinburgh Glasgow
Elections in the London boroughs were due in May 1967, but were postponed one year by the London Government Act 1967.

v t e Elections in Edinburgh
Edinburgh Corporation	1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 Abolished
City of Edinburgh District Council	1974 1977 1980 1984 1988 1992 Abolished
Lothian Regional Council	1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 Abolished
City of Edinburgh Council	1995 1999 2003 2007 2012 2017 2022
Referendums	2005

1968 Edinburgh Corporation election

Contents

Aggregate results

Ward results

References