Elections to North Lanarkshire 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.
For the second consecutive election, the Scottish National Party (SNP) were returned as the largest party with 36 seats – three shy of an overall majority. Despite a slight increase in vote share, Labour made a net gain of zero seats to remain as the second-largest party on 32 seats. The Conservatives lost half of their seats while both the Greens and the British Unionist Party (BUP) won their first seats in a North Lanarkshire election. The remaining two seats were won by independents.
For the first time in the council's history, Labour lost control as their ruling minority administration supported by the Conservatives was replaced by an SNP minority administration. However, following allegations of sexual harassment against council leader Jordan Linden, Labour regained control of the council three months later.
At the previous election in 2017, the Scottish National Party (SNP) were returned as the largest party in an election in North Lanarkshire for the first time after winning 33 seats – an increase of three but still six shy of an overall majority. Labour, who had been in power in North Lanarkshire since the council's creation in 1995, failed to win a majority of seats for the first time as their vote share fell by more than one-third and they lost 12 seats to return 32 councillors. The Conservatives won their first seats in North Lanarkshire for a decade after returning 10 councillors and the remaining two seats were won by independent candidates.[1]
Since the previous election, several changes in the composition of the council occurred. Most were changes to the political affiliation of councillors including SNP councillors Paddy Hogg and Tommy Cochrane as well as Labour councillors Angela Feeney, Gillian Fannan, Willie Doolan and Tommy Morgan who resigned from their respective parties to become independents.[4][5][6][7] SNP councillors Lynne Anderson, David Baird and Shahid Farooq defected to the Alba Party.[8][9][10]
Conservative councillor Stephen Goldsack was expelled from the party for his previous connections to the British National Party,[11] and SNP councillor Mark Kerr stood down from the party after being charged with sexual abuse in July 2020.[12] Six by-elections were held and resulted in a Labour gain from the Conservatives,[13] two Labour holds,[14][15] two Labour gains from the SNP[7][16] and an independent hold.[17]
The total number of candidates fell from 157 in 2017 to 142 despite an increase in the number of parties contesting the election. The SNP again fielded the largest number of candidates at 43 – one less than in 2017 – while Labour again fielded 42 candidates. The Conservatives were the only other party to contest every ward, naming 21 candidates as they had done in 2017. The Greens named the same number of candidates (seven) as they had at the previous election, contesting 7 of the 21 wards.[1][18]
The number of independent candidates standing fell from twenty in 2017 to seven. The UK Independence Party (UKIP) (two) and the Scottish Socialist Party (one) again contested the election in North Lanarkshire but stood four and one fewer candidates respectively. The British Unionist Party (BUP) stood one candidate as they had in 2017. For the first time, the Alba Party (six), the Scottish Family Party (five), the Independence for Scotland Party (ISP) (one), the Social Democratic Party (SDP) (one) and the Freedom Alliance (one) fielded candidates in a North Lanarkshire election while the Liberal Democrats (three) contested an election in North Lanarkshire for the first time since 2012. Independent Alliance North Lanarkshire, RISE and Solidarity did not contest the election as they had in 2017.[1][18]
Controversies
Scottish Family Party candidates in Lanarkshire were accused of "extremist right wing views" by advocacy group Hope not Hate for their policies on transgender rights and hate speech legislation. The party is considered anti-LGBT but claims to be pro-free speech.[19]
Note: Votes are the sum of first preference votes across all council wards. The net gain/loss and percentage changes relate to the result of the previous Scottish local elections on 4 May 2017. This is because STV has an element of proportionality which is not present unless multiple seats are being elected. This may differ from other published sources showing gain/loss relative to seats held at the dissolution of Scotland's councils.[21][22]
Ward summary
2022 Results of the North Lanarkshire Council election by ward
Below is a list of seats which elected a different party or parties from 2017 in order to highlight the change in political composition of the council from the previous election. The list does not include defeated incumbents who resigned or defected from their party and subsequently failed re-election while the party held the seat.
The SNP, Labour and independent candidate Alan Beveridge retained the seats they had won at the previous election while the SNP gained one seat from the Conservatives.
Despite falling three seats shy of a majority, the SNP took control of North Lanarkshire for the first time from Labour who had been in power since the council's creation.[66] The minority administration was headed by Bellshill councillor Jordan Linden who was elected as council leader at a "historic" meeting on 19 May 2022. Cllr Tracy Carragher was selected as depute leader while Cllr Agnes Magowan and Cllr Anne Thomas became Provost and depute Provost respectively.[66]
The election saw the Greens pick up their first ever seat in North Lanarkshire after Claire Williams was elected in Stepps, Chryston and Muirhead.[67] It also resulted in the BUP picking up their first elected representative as they gained a seat from the Conservatives in Fortissat – a result which was described by reporter Hamish Morrison in The National as a "devastating upset" for the Conservatives.[68]
Two months after the election, council leader Jordan Linden faced allegations of sexual misconduct stemming from a party in Dundee in 2019.[69] Following pressure from opposition groups, he apologised for the incident and resigned as council leader on 27 July 2022.[70] He later resigned as a councillor in March 2023 following further allegations of sexual harassment which he denied.[71]
On 1 August 2022, Cllr Tracy Carragher was voted to replace Cllr Linden as the leader of the SNP group with Cllr Alan Masterton as her depute.[72] However, the SNP subsequently lost control of the council on 11 August when Cllr Carragher failed to be voted in as the new council leader.[73] Instead, a Labour motion to restore former council leader Jim Logue and depute leader Paul Kelly to their former posts was passed by 38 votes to 37.[74] The decisive vote came from long-time SNP councillor Michael Coyle, who left the party shortly before the meeting.[75] Cllr Coyle's daughter Sophia, councillor for Airdrie North, also resigned from the SNP group citing "infighting and bullying" to sit as an independent.[76] The new Labour administration also nominated a new Provost, Cllr Kenny Duffy, and depute Provost – Conservative councillor Bob Burgess. Both were narrowly elected to the posts resulting in the first time a Conservative had held the role.[77]
Following accusations of a "beyond toxic" environment within the SNP group, Cllr Paul Di Mascio and Cllr David Crichton were expelled from the group on 2 May 2023 for "bringing the group and party into disrepute". The following day, five further SNP councillors – Beth Baudo, Gerry Brennan, Greg Lennon, Barry McCluskey and Cameron McManus – resigned from the SNP group in solidarity with the expelled councillors.[78] Later in the month, Cllr Jim Hume also resigned from the SNP group and the eight councillors formed a new party called Progressive Change North Lanarkshire.[79] In January 2024, Cllr Baudo defected to Labour.[80]
In March 2024, Labour councillor for Bellshill Angela Campbell became an independent.[81]
Bellshill by-election
On 14 March 2023, former council leader Jordan Linden resigned following allegations of sexual harassment.[71] A by-election held on 15 June was won by Labour's Anne McCrory.[82]
In August 2023, SNP councillor Agnes MacGowan resigned for personal reasons.[84] A by-election, held on 16 November 2023, was won by Labour's Kaye Harmon.[85]
Following their successful campaigns during the 2024 United Kingdom general election, Fortissat councillor Kenneth Stevenson and Mossend and Holytown councillor Frank McNally - who were elected as MP for Airdrie and Shotts and Coatbridge and Bellshill respectively - announced that they had resigned their council seats in August 2024. Both by-elections took place on 10 October 2024[88] and both seats were held by Labour as Clare Quigley and Helena Gray were elected in Fortissat and Mossend and Holytown respectively.[89]
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
