1974 City of Glasgow District Council election

1974 City of Glasgow District Council election

4 May 1974 (1974-05-04) 1977  →
All 72 seats to City of Glasgow District Council 36 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party   Party Labour Conservative Seats won 55 17 Popular vote 149,755 90,285 Percentage 47.7% 28.8%
Council control after election Labour

Elections to City of Glasgow District Council were held on 7 May 1974, on the same day as the other Scottish local government elections. This was the first election to the district council following the implementation of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973.

The election used the 72 wards created by the Formation Electoral Arrangements in 1974. Each ward elected one councillor using first-past-the-post voting. ^[1]

Labour took control of the council after winning a majority. The party took 55 of the 72 seats and almost half of the popular vote. The Conservatives were the second-largest party and won the remaining 17 seats.

Background

Glasgow was made a burgh in 1175. ^[2] Following the local government reforms in 1890, Glasgow became one of the four Counties of Cities and was administratively separate from the surrounding counties of Dunbartonshire, Lanarkshire and Renfrewshire. ^[3]

Following the recommendations in the Wheatly Report, the old system of counties and burghs – which had resulted in a mishmash of local government areas in which some small burghs had larger populations but far fewer responsibilities than some large burghs and even counties ^[4] – was to be replaced by a new system of regional and district councils. The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 implemented most of the recommendations in the Wheatly Report. The City of Glasgow District Council – placed within the Strathclyde region – took in a larger area than its predecessor as the burgh of Rutherglen and an area of Lanarshire including Cambuslang was incorporated into the city. ^{[4] [5]}

Results

1974 City of Glasgow District Council election result

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Labour	55				76.4	47.7	149,755
	Conservative	17				23.6	28.8	90,285
	SNP	0				0.0	19.2	60,198
	Liberal	0				0.0	2.2	6,786
	Communist	0				0.0	1.2	3,830
	Independent	0				0.0	0.4	1,393
	Residents	0				0.0	0.3	932
	Independent Progressive	0				0.0	0.2	533
	Scottish Workers Republican Party	0				0.0	0.0	95

Source: ^[6]

Aftermath

The City of Glasgow was one of 11 districts in the newly created Strathclyde region that was won by Labour after the party took 55 of the 72 seats. The Conservatives won the remaining 17 seats. Labour also won control of the regional council which held its first election on the same day. Across Scotland, Labour won the most votes, the most seats and the most councils of any party. ^[6]

References

1. "Formation Electoral Arrangements". Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland. Retrieved 5 April 2025.
2. "Glasgow 850 Kicks Off a Year of Festivities with Programme Launch". Glasgow City Council. Retrieved 8 April 2025.
3. Guide to local government in parishes, counties and burghs. Edinburgh: Royal College of Physicians. 1892. pp. xxiii–xxx. Retrieved 4 April 2025.
4. "Information Paper Local government in Scotland: before 1975" (PDF). Boundaries Scotland. Retrieved 5 April 2025.
5. Turnock, David (1970). "The Wheatley Report: Local Government in Scotland". Area. 2 (2). Blackwell Publishing on behalf of The Royal Geographical Society with the Institute of British Geographers: 10–12. JSTOR   20000437.
6. Botchel, J. M.; Denver, D. T. (1975). The Scottish Local Government Elections 1974: Results and Statistics (PDF). Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press. Retrieved 5 April 2025.