Local government in Scotland comprises thirty-two local authorities, commonly referred to as councils. Each council provides public services, including education, social care, waste management, libraries and planning. Councils receive the majority of their funding from the Scottish Government, but operate independently and are accountable to their local electorates. Councils raise additional income via the Council Tax, a locally variable domestic property tax, and Business rates, a non-domestic property tax.
Roseanna Cunningham is a retired Scottish National Party (SNP) politician who served as Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform from 2016 to 2021. She was previously Cabinet Secretary for Fair Work, Skills and Training from 2014 until 2016.
Alasdair Neil Morgan is a former Scottish National Party (SNP) politician. He was Deputy Leader of the Scottish National Party from 1990 to 1991 and served in the House of Commons as the Member of Parliament for Galloway and Upper Nithsdale from 1997 to 2001. He was elected in 1999 as a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Galloway and Upper Nithsdale. From 2003 to 2011, he served as a member for the South of Scotland region.
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar is the local authority for Na h-Eileanan an Iar, one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It is based in Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis.
The Scottish Liberal Democrats is a liberal, federalist political party in Scotland, part of UK Liberal Democrats. The party holds 4 of the 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament and 6 of the 57 Scottish seats in the House of Commons.
This is a list of people who have served as
Angus MacDonald JP DL is a former Scottish National Party (SNP) politician. He was the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Falkirk East from 2011 to 2021.
Thomas Bridgehill Wilson Ramsay was a Scottish Liberal Party, and National Liberal Party politician and Member of Parliament (MP).
The Shetland Islands Council is the local authority for the Shetland Islands, one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It was established in 1975 by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 and was largely unaffected by the Scottish local government changes of 1996.
James Douglas Hepburn is a Scottish politician who has served as the Minister for Parliamentary Business since May 2024. A member of the Scottish National Party (SNP), he has been Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Cumbernauld and Kilsyth since 2011, having previously represented the Central Scotland region from 2007 to 2011.
The Macaulay family of Uig in Lewis, known in Scottish Gaelic as Clann mhic Amhlaigh, were a small family located around Uig on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. There is no connection between the Macaulays of Lewis and Clan MacAulay which was centred in the Loch Lomond area, bordering the Scottish Highlands and Scottish Lowlands. The Macaulays of Lewis are generally said to be of Norse origin because of the etymology of their surname and also because of the islands' Viking Age past. However, a recent analysis of the Y-DNA of men with Scottish surnames has shown that a large number of Hebridean Macaulays are of Irish origin. In the 17th century, however, tradition gave the Macaulays an Irish origin. By the end of the 16th century the dominant clan on Lewis was Clan Macleod of The Lewes. Other notable Lewis clans were the somewhat smaller Morrisons of Ness and the even less numerous Macaulays of Uig. The Macaulays were centred in the area surrounding Uig on the western coast of Lewis, and had a deadly, long-standing feud with the Morrisons, whose lands were located on the northern coast around Ness. Today the Lewis surname Macaulay is considered to be a sept name of the Macleods of Lewis. There are two other nearby clans of Macaulays who may, or may not, be connected to the Lewis clan—the Wester Ross Macaulays, and the Uist MacAulays.
Trumpan is a hamlet located on the Vaternish peninsula in the Isle of Skye, in the Scottish council area of the Highland. Trumpan Church, which is now a ruin, was the focus of a particularly brutal incident in 1578, when the Clan MacDonald of Uist travelled to Trumpan in eight boats and, under cover of a thick mist, burnt alive all the worshipping church-goers, with only one member managing to escape. This led to instant retribution by Clan MacLeod, who killed all the invaders before they had time to flee the island. This skirmish is known as the Battle of the Spoiling Dyke.
Elections to Comhairle nan Eilean Siar were held on 3 May 2012, the same day as the other Scottish local government elections. The election was the second one using the 9 wards created as a result of the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004. Each ward elected three or four Councillors using the single transferable vote system: a form of proportional representation. A total of 31 Councillors were elected.
The second election to Western Isles Islands Council was held on 8 May 1978 as part of the wider 1978 Scottish regional elections. All candidates stood as Independents, and 23 candidates were elected unopposed.
The third election to the Western Isles Islands Council was held on 6 May 1982 as part of the wider 1982 Scottish regional elections. All candidates stood as Independents. Of the councils 30 councillors, 19 were elected unopposed.
The first election to the Western Isles Islands Council was held on 7 May 1974 as part of the wider 1974 Scottish regional elections. All candidates stood as Independents, and 16 candidates were elected unopposed.
The 2017 Highland Council election was held on 4 May 2017 to elect members of the Highland Council. The election used the 21 wards created under the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004; each ward elected three or four councillors using the single transferable vote system. A total of 74 councillors were elected, six less than in 2012.
Elections to Shetland Islands Council took place on 5 May 2022 on the same day as the 31 other Scottish local government elections. As with other Scottish council elections, it was held using single transferable vote (STV) – a form of proportional representation – in which multiple candidates are elected in each ward and voters rank candidates in order of preference.
Elections toComhairle nan Eilean Siar took place on 5 May 2022 on the same day as the 31 other Scottish local government elections. As with other Scottish council elections, it was held using the single transferable vote (STV) system – a form of proportional representation – in which multiple candidates are elected in each ward, and voters rank candidates in order of preference.
Elections to Clackmannanshire Council took place on 5 May 2022, the same day as the 31 other Scottish local government elections. As with other Scottish council elections, it was held using single transferable vote (STV)—a form of proportional representation—in which multiple candidates are elected in each ward and voters rank candidates in order of preference.
