2022 East Renfrewshire Council election

For broader coverage of this topic, see 2022 Scottish local elections.

2022 East Renfrewshire Council election

←  2017 5 May 2022 (2022-05-05) 2027 →
All 18 seats to East Renfrewshire Council 10 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	52.7%
First party Second party   Leader Tony Buchanan Gordon Wallace [1] Party SNP Conservative Leader's seat Newton Mearns North and Neilston Giffnock and Thornliebank Last election 5 7 Seats won 6 5 Seat change 1 2 Popular vote 11,249 11,599 Percentage 28.6% 29.5%   Third party Fourth party   Leader Owen O'Donnell [2] N/A Party Labour Independent Leader's seat Newton Mearns North and Neilston N/A Last election 4 2 Seats won 5 2 Seat change 1 0 Popular vote 7,973 5,571 Percentage 20.2% 14.1%
Council Leader before election Tony Buchanan SNP Council Leader after election Owen O'Donnell Labour

The 2022 East Renfrewshire Council election took place on 5 May 2022 on the same day as the 31 other Scottish local government elections. The election used the 5 wards created under the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004, with 18 councillors being elected. Each ward elected either 3 or 4 members, using the STV electoral system. ^[3]

At the last election in 2017, the Conservatives won the most seats, but a coalition administration was formed between the SNP and Labour. ^[4] This also included 1 independent.

Background

Composition

	Party	2017 result	Dissolution
	SNP	5	5
	Labour	4	4
	Conservative	7	5
	Independent	2	4

Changes since 2017

Barrhead, Liboside & Uplawmoor Conservative Cllr Paul Aitken resigned from the Scottish Conservatives and became an Independent on 22 January 2018. ^[5]

Clarkston, Netherlee & Williamwood Conservative Cllr Stewart Miller resigned from the Scottish Conservatives and became an Independent on 10 September 2020. ^[6]

Results

2022 East Renfrewshire Council election result

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	SNP	6	1	0	1	33.3	28.6	11,249	4.3
	Conservative	5	0	2	2	27.8	29.5	11,599	8.8
	Labour	5	1	0	1	27.8	20.2	7,973	2.8
	Independent	2	0	0	0	11.1	14.1	5,571	4.9
	Scottish Green	0	0	0	0	0.0	5.4	2,111	4.0
	Alba	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.9	341	New
	Liberal Democrats	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.5	203	1.7
	Scottish Family	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.5	203	New
	Freedom Alliance	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.2	67	New
	ISP	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.1	57	New

Ward summary

Results of the 2022 East Renfrewshire Council election by ward (first preferences)

Ward	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	Total Cllrs
	SNP		Labour		Conservative		Independent		Others
Barrhead, Liboside and Uplawmoor	33.4	2	20.1	1	10.7	0	31.1	1	4.5	0	4
Newton Mearns North and Neilston	32.1	1	25.4	1	34.5	1			8.0	0	3
Giffnock and Thornliebank	26.1	1	22.2	1	25.1	1	19.9	0	6.7	0	3
Clarkston, Netherlee and Williamwood	29.0	1	16.8	1	23.5	1	20.7	1	10.0	0	4
Newton Mearns South & Eaglesham	24.3	1	19.1	1	48.9	2			7.8	0	4
Total	28.5	6	20.2	5	29.5	5	14.1	2	7.6	0	18

Ward results

Barrhead, Liboside and Uplawmoor

Barrhead, Liboside and Uplawmoor - 4 seats ^{[7] [8]}

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	Independent	Danny Devlin (incumbent)	26.0%	1,753
	SNP	Angela Convery (incumbent)	24.3%	1,639
	Labour	Betty Wood Cunningham (incumbent)	20.1%	1,355
	Conservative	Greg Turner†	10.7%	722	760	761	762	767	780	898
	SNP	Chris Lunday	9.1%	616	691	935	936	968	1,105	1,198	1,282
	Independent	Paul Aitken (incumbent)	5.1%	345	462	470	472	491	536
	Scottish Green	Frank Wilson	3.4%	229	258	272	273	285
	Alba	Neil Anderson	1.1%	74	91	96	96
Electorate: 14,485  Valid: 6,733  Spoilt: 133 [9] (1.93%)  Quota: 1,347  Turnout: 47.2%

† Greg Turner was suspended from the Conservative Party on 21 April 2022, prior to the election, after being linked to derogatory online remarks against Catholics. ^[10] His name remained on the ballot paper, as the deadline for nominations had passed.

Newton Mearns North and Neilston

Newton Mearns North and Neilston - 3 seats ^[7]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1
	SNP	Tony Buchanan (incumbent)	32.1%	1,938
	Conservative	Andrew Morrison	26.2%	1,579
	Labour	Owen O'Donnell	25.4%	1,532
	Conservative	Farooq Choudhry	8.3%	501
	Scottish Green	Adrian Egglestone	5.3%	322
	Scottish Family	Maria Reid	1.4%	84
	Alba	Carol McKenzie	0.9%	55
	Freedom Alliance (UK)	Derek McMillan	0.4%	23
Electorate: 12,397  Valid: 6,034  Spoilt: 72 [11] (1.2%)  Quota: 1,509  Turnout: 49%

Giffnock and Thornliebank

Giffnock and Thornliebank - 3 seats ^[7]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5
	SNP	Colm Merrick (incumbent)	26.1%	1,888
	Conservative	Gordon Wallace (incumbent)	25.1%	1,816
	Labour	Mary Montague	22.2%	1,608	1,629	1,630	1,662	1,863
	Independent	Allan Steele	13.5%	978	983	986	998	1,033
	Independent	Alice Roy	6.4%	464	469	470	488	576
	Scottish Green	Karen Sharkey	5.4%	387	418	418	439
	Alba	George Gebbie	1.3%	92	97	97
Electorate: 12,996  Valid: 7,233  Spoilt: 80 [12] (1.1%)  Quota: 1,809  Turnout: 56.2%

Clarkston, Netherlee and Williamwood

Clarkston, Netherlee and Williamwood - 4 seats ^[7]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	SNP	Annette Ireland (incumbent)	21.6%	2,119
	Conservative	Kate Campbell	17.2%	1,692	1,692	1,694	1,710	2,254
	Labour	Katie Victoria Pragnell	16.8%	1,647	1,654	1,657	1,728	1,743	1,798	1,908	2,116
	Independent	David Macdonald (incumbent)	14.3%	1,407	1,415	1,425	1,448	1,471	1,541	1,868	2,017
	SNP	David Tam McDonald	7.4%	724	838	852	863	864	867	895	1,233
	Scottish Green	Gordon Keenan	7.3%	717	737	745	780	787	796	846
	Independent	Stewart Miller (incumbent)	6.4%	624	626	634	656	673	718
	Conservative	Gerald Edwards	6.3%	622	622	622	627
	Liberal Democrats	Daphne Vlastari	2.1%	203	204	206
	ISP	Colette Walker	0.6%	57	58
Electorate: 16,612  Valid: 9,812  Spoilt: 165 [13] (1.6%)  Quota: 1,963  Turnout: 60.2%

Newton Mearns South and Eaglesham

Newton Mearns South and Eaglesham - 4 seats ^{[7] [8]}

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
	SNP	Caroline Bamforth [14] (incumbent)	24.3%	2,325
	Conservative	Paul Edlin [14]	21.1%	2,016
	Labour	Andrew Anderson [14]	19.1%	1,831	1,938
	Conservative	Jim McLean [14] (incumbent)	16.6%	1,584	1,600	1,685	1,690	1,691	1,721	1,733	1,823	2,888
	Conservative	Paul Smith	11.2%	1,067	1,070	1,082	1,083	1,087	1,106	1,113	1,154
	Scottish Green	Victoria Palmer-Dyer	4.8%	456	649	650	658	665	688	738
	Alba	Amer Siddiqui	1.3%	120	146	147	147	152	164
	Scottish Family	Luke Reid	1.2%	119	123	123	124	133
	Freedom Alliance (UK)	Mark Niven Turnbull [8]	0.5%	44	45	45	46
Electorate: 18,174  Valid: 9,562  Spoilt: 139 [15] (1.4%)  Quota: 1,913  Turnout: 53.1%

Aftermath

After this election, a minority coalition was formed with the five Labour councillors and the two Independent councillors, David Macdonald and Danny Devlin. The SNP accused Labour of a 'backroom deal' with the Conservatives. ^[16]

On 4 July 2022, Macdonald left the coalition, and the council's administration. ^[17] Responding to a query on social media, he said: "The agreement I reached with the Labour group leader for my support to install a minority Labour, Independent administration was not going to be delivered. I lost trust and confidence and for that reason I could not, in good faith, continue." ^[18]

In April 2024, SNP councillor Annette Ireland resigned from the SNP group and became an Independent. ^[19]

2025 Barrhead, Liboside and Uplawmoor by-election

In June 2025, Labour councillor for Barrhead, Liboside and Uplawmoor, Betty Wood Cunningham, died. A by-election was held on 21 August 2025 ^[20] and was won by Labour candidate Julie Ann Costello McHale. ^[21]

Barrhead, Liboside and Uplawmoor by-election (21 August 2025) − 1 seat

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	Labour	Julie Ann Costello McHale
	SNP	David McDonald
	Reform UK	Andy MacGibbon
	Scottish Green	Karen Sharkey
	Conservative	Farooq Choudhry
	Abolish the Scottish Parliament	Gus Ferguson

References

1. "Cllr Gordon Wallace". East Renfrewshire Conservatives.
2. Sandelands, Drew (19 May 2022). "Labour plans minority administration in East Renfrewshire". Glasgow World.
3. "Scottish Local Government Elections - 5 May 2022". East Renfrewshire Council. 21 April 2022. Retrieved 3 May 2022.
4. Brawn, Steph (20 May 2017). "SNP and Labour set to form coalition on East Renfrewshire Council". Barrhead News. Retrieved 3 May 2022.
5. Gordon, Tom (22 January 2018). "Barrhead's first Tory in 25 years quits over "party diktat"". The Herald.
6. "Stewart Miller : Tory leader in East Renfrewshire quits over lack of trust". GlasgowTimes. Archived from the original on 19 August 2013. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
7. "Notice of poll and situation of polling stations" (PDF). East Renfrewshire Council. Retrieved 3 May 2022.
8. "East Renfrewshire Council : Candidate Votes Per Stage Report" (PDF). Eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk. Retrieved 5 July 2022.
9. "East Renfrewshire Council : Declaration of Results" (PDF). Eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk. Retrieved 5 July 2022.
10. McCall, Chris (21 April 2022). "Scots Tory candidate dropped after branding Catholic school a 'bigot factory'". Daily Record.
11. "East Renfrewshire Council : Declaration of Results" (PDF). Eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk. Retrieved 5 July 2022.
12. "East Renfrewshire Council : Declaration of Results" (PDF). Eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk. Retrieved 5 July 2022.
13. "East Renfrewshire Council : Declaration of Results" (PDF). Eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk. Retrieved 5 July 2022.
14. "Local government election results 2022". East Renfrewshire Council.
15. "East Renfrewshire Council : Declaration of Results" (PDF). Eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk. Retrieved 5 July 2022.
16. Sandelands, Drew (26 May 2022). "Labour to run East Renfrewshire amid accusations of 'backroom deal with Tories'". Glasgow Live.
17. Sandelands, Drew (4 July 2022). "Independent member quits East Renfrewshire Council's minority administration". Barrhead News. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
18. Sandelands, Drew (4 July 2022). "East Renfrewshire councillor quits administration just weeks after election". GlasgowLive. Retrieved 13 September 2022.
19. "Councillor QUITS SNP to be an independent". Barrhead News. 18 April 2024.
20. "Local Government By-election". East Renfrewshire Council.
21. "Scottish Labour win East Renfrewshire by-election". The National. 22 August 2025.