2012 East Lothian Council election

Last updated

2012 East Lothian Council election
Flag of Scotland.svg
  2007 3 May 2012 (2012-05-03) 2017  

All 23 seats to East Lothian Council
12 seats needed for a majority
 First partySecond partyThird party
 
LeaderWillie Innes Paul Stewart McLennan Ludovic Broun-Lindsay
Party Labour SNP Conservative
Leader's seatPreston/Seton/GosfordDunbar and East LintonHaddington and Lammermuir
Last election7 seats, 30.4%7 seats, 30.4%2 seats, 8.7%
Seats before792
Seats won1093
Seat changeIncrease2.svg3Increase2.svg2Increase2.svg1

 Fourth partyFifth party
 
LeaderJohn Murray CaldwellStuart MacKinnon
Party Independent Liberal Democrats
Leader's seatMusselburgh East and CarberryNorth Berwick Coastal
Last election1 seats, 4.3%6 seats, 26.1%
Seats before14
Seats won10
Seat changeSteady2.svg0Decrease2.svg6

East Lothian Council election 2012.svg
The multi-member wards

Council Leader before election

Paul Stewart McLennan
SNP

Council Leader after election

Willie Innes
Labour

2012 Elections to East Lothian Council were held on 3 May 2012, on the same day as the other Scottish local government elections. The election used the 7 wards created as a result of the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004, with each ward electing three or four councillors using the single transferable vote system form of proportional representation, with 23 councillors elected.

Contents

The election saw Labour strengthen their position on the council, regaining 3 of the seats they had lost in the 2007 Local Elections while also significantly increasing their vote share. The Scottish National Party also increased their representation with 2 net gains. The Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party increased their representation to 3 seats while Independents retained their single seat on the authority. The Scottish Liberal Democrats were decimated, losing all their six seats although two members had defected after 2007 and one of these councillors was re-elected as a Scottish Nationalist, the other failed to be re-elected as a Scottish Nationalist.

Following the election the Labour Party formed a coalition with the Conservatives and the one Independent councillor, with Councillor Willie Innes of the Labour Party becoming leader of the council and experienced Conservative Councillor Ludovic Broun-Lindsay becoming provost, resigning as leader of the Conservatives on the council to hold the provost role in a non-partisan and non-party political way, with new councillor Michael Veitch becoming leader of the Conservative group. This new coalition replaced the previous SNP - Lib Dem coalition administration, which had existed from 2007 to 2012. [1]

Background

The previous elections in 2007 had returned no one party with enough councillors to create majority single-party governance as there had been in East Lothian up until that point. The SNP and Labour both returned 7 councillors to the chamber, the Liberal Democrats won 6, the Conservatives 2 and a sole independent candidate was elected as councillor. After the election, the SNP and the Liberal Democrats entered into a coalition, throwing Labour out of office, having previously controlled the council with a large majority for many years before that.

The 2012 election was the first since Councillor David Berry had fallen only 151 votes short of winning East Lothian for the SNP in the 2011 Scottish Parliament Elections a major coup due to the seat being considered a traditional Labour stronghold seat and it being the seat of then leader of Scottish Labour, Iain Gray. While nationally at that election the SNP was the first party to gain an overall majority in the Scottish Parliament. With this result still fresh in the mind, the SNP predicted major gains, including taking overall majority control of many councils including East Lothian.

The Labour Party, in many aspects still reeling from national electoral annihilation on a national level during the previous year's election, had come into the election with the hope of gaining seats, with a slim hope gaining a majority control of the council.

The Liberal Democrats had struggled during the previous five years of leadership on the council with the SNP. They had suffered the defection of wife-and-husband councillor duo of Ruth and Stuart Currie on 11 August 2009 to their coalition partners, the SNP, due to "personal disagreements" with fellow Liberal Democrat councillors. This reduced their representation on the council from 6 to 4, weakening their hand in the rule coalition. It also had the effect of damaging the morale and effectiveness of the local party. This was also the Scottish Liberal Democrats' second election since the entering coalition with the Conservative Party in the UK Parliament. The party had suffered badly at the 2011 Scottish Parliament Election, and it was expected that this would continue in the 2012 local elections.

For the Scottish Conservatives, it was the first election since the election of Ruth Davidson as leader of the party in Scotland. On a local the Conservatives entered the election in East Lothian with a realistic hope of a gain in the election through Michael Veitch, who was the Conservative candidate in the 2010 general election in East Lothian, in the Dunbar and East Linton ward. Previously the Conservatives had come second in the 2010 General Election, a very good result. The party locally believed that it would be able to hold the balance of power in the new makeup of the council with the opinion of working with either the Labour Party or the SNP on a local level.

Independent John Caldwell had first been elected in 2007, and the local media felt that he would keep his seat during this election. There was little chance of this changing due to him being considered an effective local politician by the majority of the public. He was joined by 3 other independent candidates who were standing in other wards, none of whom, it was felt, who stood a realistic chance of being elected.

Two minor parties also took part in the election, UKIP and Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition, each standing 2 and 1 candidates respectively. This was the first time that both of these parties were standing candidates in the East Lothian Council elections since the introduction of the current voting system.

Since the election in 2012 Councillor David Berry has left the SNP and now sits as an Independent Nationalist councillor.

In April 2013 Councillor Stuart Currie replaced Councillor Paul McLennan as SNP Group Leader and Leader of the Opposition.

Election result

East Lothian Local Election Result 2012
PartySeatsGainsLossesNet gain/lossSeats %Votes %Votes+/−
  Labour 1030+343.4843.114,183+10.5
  SNP 920+239.1330.410,001+3.5
  Conservative 310+113.0414.44,724-3.0
  Independent 1---4.355.91,925+0.23
  Liberal Democrats 006-6-5.61,835-10.13
  UKIP 0----0.47156+0.45
  TUSC 0----0.3105New

Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes. The net gain/loss and percentage changes relate to the result of the previous Scottish local elections on 3 May 2007. This may differ from other published sources showing gain/loss relative to seats held at dissolution of Scotland's councils.

Ward results

Musselburgh West

Musselburgh West - 3 seats
PartyCandidateFPv%Count
123456
Labour Johnnie McNeil (incumbent)41.931,427     
SNP Fraser McAllister20.33692746.9 766.5 780.9 822.6 910.5
SNP John Charles Williamson (incumbent)13.87472526.1 542.5 551.7 581.6 671.2
Liberal Democrats Barry John Turner (incumbent)8.35284363.1 382.1 452.6 563.2  
Conservative Katie Mackie6.38217243.6 246.9    
Independent Robert Fairnie6.05206279.5 323.1 393.3   
TUSC Jack Fraser3.09105163.5     
Electorate: 8,728  Valid: 3,403  Spoilt: 45  Quota: 851  Turnout: 3,448 (38.99%)  

    Musselburgh East and Carberry

    Musselburgh East and Carberry - 3 seats
    PartyCandidateFPv%Count
    12345
    Independent John Murray Caldwell (incumbent)26.721,052    
    SNP Stuart McDonald Currie *26.311,036    
    Labour Andy Forrest (incumbent)22.63891906.7 916.9 952.4 1,664.7
    Labour Judith Dunn18.24718734.3 747.8 811.3  
    Conservative Fred Lawson6.10240251.3 255.9   
    Electorate: 9,569  Valid: 3,937  Spoilt: 34  Quota: 985  Turnout: 3,996 (41.14%)  

      Preston/Seton/Gosford

      Preston/Seton/Gosford - 4 seats
      PartyCandidateFPv%Count
      1234567
      Labour Willie Innes (incumbent)38.762,312      
      SNP Steven Brown18.511,1041,149.5 1,204.8    
      Labour Margaret Libberton (incumbent)15.469221,871.2     
      SNP Peter Robert MacKenzie (incumbent)13.89829850.8 900.9 910.1 926.9 997.7 1,166.5
      Conservative Lachlan Bruce8.38500512.1 555.2 555.4 587.4 697  
      Liberal Democrats Hugh Reid3.6215223.2 266.6 266.8 280.1   
      UKIP Gordon Norrie1.398389.3 113.9 114.1    
      Electorate: 13,386  Valid: 5,965  Spoilt: 34  Quota: 1,194  Turnout: 6,088 (44.56%)  

        Fa'side

        Fa'side - 4 seats
        PartyCandidateFPv%Count
        1234567
        Labour Jim Gillies (incumbent)27.41,539      
        Labour Donald Grant (incumbent)23.21,308      
        SNP Kenny McLeod (incumbent)16.2907935.1 955.2 983.8 1,035.4 1,038.7 1,686.1
        SNP Ruth Catherine Linn Currie (incumbent)11.6663676.2 680.3 700.6 742.9 747.7  
        Labour Shamin Akhtar11.0615928.5 1,065.7 1,110.2 1,174.4  
        Conservative Robert McNab Cowe7.2411419.4 423.1 468.6    
        Liberal Democrats Darren Maley3.0170178.1 181.2     
        Electorate: 13,390  Valid: 5,613  Spoilt: 105  Quota: 1,123  Turnout: 5,718 (41.92%)  

          North Berwick Coastal

          North Berwick Coastal - 3 seats
          PartyCandidateFPv%Count
          1234
          Conservative Tim Day30.651,465   
          Labour Jim Goodfellow27.081,294   
          SNP David Stuart Berry (incumbent)†21.301,0181,043.8 1,059 1,253.9
          Liberal Democrats Stuart Leitch MacKinnon (incumbent)8.47405485.2 510.6 526.3
          Independent Jeremy Douglas Findlay7.32350426.8 444.4 464.9
          SNP Ronnie Gurr5.17247250.1 255.1  
          Electorate: 9,811  Valid: 4,779  Spoilt: 42  Quota: 1,195  Turnout: 4,821 (48.71%)  

            Haddington and Lammermuir

            Haddington and Lammermuir - 3 seats
            PartyCandidateFPv%Count
            123456
            Labour John McMillan33.381,522     
            SNP Tom Trotter (incumbent)26.741,219     
            Conservative Ludovic Broun-Lindsay (incumbent)19.92908961.7 971.8 1,004 1,076.1 1,483.3
            Liberal Democrats Kelvin Logan Pate13.38610723.2 743.9 755.9 867.7  
            Independent David Barrett4.98227276.4 289.9 313.4   
            UKIP Oluf George Marshall1.607386.1 90    
            Electorate: 9,948  Valid: 4,559  Spoilt: 38  Quota: 1,140  Turnout: 4,597 (45.83%)  

              Dunbar and East Linton

              Dunbar and East Linton - 3 seats
              PartyCandidateFPv%Count
              12345
              Labour Norman Hampshire (incumbent)25.491,191    
              SNP Paul Stewart McLennan (incumbent)24.781,1581,160 1,195  
              Conservative Michael George Veitch21.04983983.8 1,072.9 1,074.7 1,185.9
              SNP Isobel Margaret Knox14.04656657.1 681.1 702.7 805.1
              Labour Hayley Flanagan9.50444460.1 516.3 517.3  
              Liberal Democrats Ann Burt Taylor5.16241241.5    
              Electorate: 9,760  Valid: 4,673  Spoilt: 71  Quota: 1,169  Turnout: 4,744 (47.88%)  

                Post Election Changes

                Related Research Articles

                References

                1. "Labour set to go it alone on East Lothian Council".

                https://web.archive.org/web/20120507032037/http://www.eastlothian.gov.uk/info/200210/council_elections_thursday_3_may_2012/1431/council_election_results__thursday_3_may