1992 Scottish local elections

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1992 Scottish local elections
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 First partySecond party
  Start campagne voor Europese verkiezingen van PvdA (Rotterdam) Neal Kinnoch , k, Bestanddeelnr 932-9811.jpg Prime Minister John Major (cropped).jpg
Leader Neil Kinnock John Major
Party Labour Conservative
Leader since2 October 198328 November 1990
Seats won468204
Seat changeDecrease2.svg85Increase2.svg42
Percentage34.0%23.2%
SwingIncrease2.svg3.8%
 Third partyFourth party
  Alex Salmond, First Minister of Scotland (cropped).jpg Jim Wallace.jpg
Leader Alex Salmond Jim Wallace
Party SNP Liberal Democrats
Leader since22 September 199018 April 1992
Seats won15094
Seat changeIncrease2.svg37Increase2.svg10
Percentage24.3%9.5%
SwingDecrease2.svg0.1%
Scottish District local elections, 1992.svg
Colours denote the winning party with outright control

Local elections were held in Scotland on 7 May 1992, to elect members to all 53 district councils. It was the last local election held under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, which had established the two-tier system of regions and districts. Regional and district councils were abolished in 1996, and replaced with 29 new mainland unitary authorities under the terms of the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994.

Contents

Overview

Background

There was some speculation that these elections would be the last under the present two-tier system, as a review of council areas had been announced by the incumbent Conservative Government (The last elections were in fact the 1994 regional elections). The elections were seen as a test of the Conservative Government elected a month before in April, where the Conservatives had increased their vote share, much to the surprise of pollsters.

Outcome

The election saw a decrease in turnout of more than 5%, the lowest since District Council elections were introduced in 1974. The number of women candidates increased to 26.7%, although only 21.5% of elected councillors were women, showing that the main parties often preferred to nominate men in wards where they had a better chance of winning. Labour saw a sharp fall on their vote share, down 8.5% from 1988. The main beneficiaries of this decline were the Conservatives, up 3.8%, but still in third place behind the SNP, who gained 3.0%. The Liberal Democrats also made modest gains, taking a new record of 95 seats.

Labour held most of their strongholds in the central belt, as well as Dundee and Aberdeen; even though their vote share decreased more in these areas (Such as East Lothian, down 13% from 1988 and Glasgow, down 11.8%) than elsewhere. The Conservatives were most successful in places were they hadn't stood many (if any) candidates before, such as Clackmannan (where the party only stood two candidates in 1988). Independents remained the largest party in rural areas, while the Liberal Democrats held their two councils of North East Fife and Annandale and Eskdale. [1]

National results

Summary of the 1992 Scottish district council election results [2]
Votes TotalVotes %Seats
Labour 504,07634.0468
SNP 360,01424.3150
Conservative 343,35823.2204
Liberal Democrats 140,6979.594
Independent 107,5867.4228
Other26,0571.914
Total1,481,788n/a1158

Results by region

Borders

District1988 result1992 resultTurnoutDetails
Berwickshire Conservative Conservative Details
Ettrick and Lauderdale Independent Independent Details
Roxburgh Independent Independent Details
Tweeddale Independent Independent Details

Central

District1988 result1992 resultTurnoutDetails
Clackmannan Labour Labour Details
Falkirk Labour No overall control Details
Stirling Labour No overall control Details

Dumfries and Galloway

District1988 result1992 resultTurnoutDetails
Annandale and Eskdale Liberal Democrats Liberal Democrats Details
Wigtown Independent Independent Details
Nithsdale Labour No overall control Details
Stewartry Independent Independent Details

Fife

District1988 result1992 resultTurnoutDetails
Dunfermline Labour Labour Details
Kirkcaldy Labour Labour Details
North-East Fife Liberal Democrats Liberal Democrats Details

Grampian

District1988 result1992 resultTurnoutDetails
Banff and Buchan Independent Independent Details
City of Aberdeen Labour Labour Details
Gordon No overall control Independent Details
Kincardine and Deeside Independent No overall control Details
Moray Independent No overall control Details

Highland

District1988 result1992 resultTurnoutDetails
Badenoch and Strathspey Independent Independent Details
Caithness Independent Independent Details
Inverness Independent No overall control Details
Lochaber Independent No overall control Details
Nairn Independent Independent Details
Ross and Cromarty Independent Independent Details
Skye and Lochalsh Independent Independent Details
Sutherland Independent Independent Details

Lothian

District1988 result1992 resultTurnoutDetails
City of Edinburgh Labour No overall control Details
East Lothian Labour Labour Details
Midlothian Labour Labour Details
West Lothian Labour No overall control Details

Strathclyde

District1988 result1992 resultTurnoutDetails
Argyll and Bute Independent Independent Details
Bearsden and Milngavie Conservative No overall control Details
Cumbernauld and Kilsyth No overall control Labour Details
Clydebank Labour Labour Details
Clydesdale Labour No overall control Details
Cunninghame Labour Labour Details
Cumnock and Doon Valley Labour Labour Details
Dumbarton No overall control No overall control Details
East Kilbride Labour Labour Details
Eastwood Conservative Conservative Details
City of Glasgow Labour Labour Details
Hamilton Labour Labour Details
Inverclyde Labour Labour Details
Kilmarnock and Loudoun Labour No overall control Details
Kyle and Carrick Labour Conservative Details
Motherwell Labour Labour Details
Monklands Labour Labour Details
Renfrew Labour Labour Details
Strathkelvin Labour Labour Details

Tayside

District1988 result1992 resultTurnoutDetails
Angus SNP SNP Details
City of Dundee Labour Labour Details
Perth and Kinross No overall control Conservative Details

References

  1. ↑ "Scottish District Elections 1992" (PDF). Elections Centre. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
  2. ↑ Denver, David; Bochel, Hugh (Winter 2000), "The Forgotten Elections: The Scottish Council Elections of 1999", Scottish Affairs (PDF), vol. 30, archived from the original (PDF) on 3 October 2011, retrieved 16 July 2011McConnell, Alan (2004), Scottish Local Government, Edinburgh University Press, ISBN   978-0-7486-2005-0
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