Scottish Borders Council elections

Scottish Borders Council in Scotland holds elections every five years, previously holding them every four years from its creation as a single-tier authority in 1995 to 2007.

Council elections

As a regional council

Year	Conservative	SNP	Liberal [a]	Borders Independent	Independent
1974	7	0	3	0	13
1978	9	1	1	0	12 [b]
1982 [c]	8	0	3	0	12
1986	6	1	2	1	13
1990	3	2	6	0	12
1994 [d]	2	6	8	0	11

1. SDP–Liberal Alliance from 1981 to 1988, Liberal Democrats from 1988 onwards.
2. Includes 1 Independent Nationalist.
3. New ward boundaries. ^[1]
4. New ward boundaries. ^[2]

As a unitary authority

Year	Conservative	SNP	Liberal Democrats	Green	Borders	Labour	Independent
1995	3	8	15	0	0	2	30
1999 [a]	1	4	14	0	0	1	14
2003	10	1	9	0	0	0	14
2007 [b]	11	6	10	0	2	0	5
2012	10	9	6	0	2	0	7
2017 [c]	15	9	2	0	0	0	8
2022	14	9	3	1	0	0	7

1. New ward boundaries. ^[3]
2. Change to single transferable vote system and new ward boundaries.
3. New ward boundaries. ^[4]

Results maps

• 
  1982 results map
• 
  1986 results map
• 
  2012 results map
• 
  2017 results map

By-elections

2003-2007

Kelso and District North By-Election 6 May 2004 ^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Andrew Thomson [6]	371	43.8	+4.0
	Liberal Democrats		320	37.7	+37.7
	SNP		157	18.5	+18.5
Majority			51	6.0
Turnout			848
	Conservative gain from Independent		Swing

Kilnknowe and Clovenfords By-Election 9 June 2005 ^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Bill Herd [8]	372	33.7	+6.9
	Conservative		325	29.4	+8.0
	Independent		206	18.7	+18.7
	Liberal Democrats		181	16.4	+16.4
	Independent		20	1.8	+1.8
Majority			47	4.3
Turnout			1,104
	SNP gain from Independent		Swing

2012-2017

Leaderdale and Melrose By-Election 2 May 2013 ^[9]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	Borders	Iain Gillespie	23.5	814	844	900	1,118	1,444	2,066
	Conservative	Rachael Hamilton	27.6	956	975	982	1,038	1,283
	Liberal Democrats	John Paton-Day	21.5	744	756	816	983
	SNP	Harry Cummings	17.7	613	623	666
	Labour	Robin Tatler	6.8	235	238
	UKIP	Sherry Fowler	3.0	105
	Borders hold
Valid: 3,467  Spoilt: 20  Quota: 1,734

Tweeddale West By-Election 10 October 2013 ^[10]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	Conservative	Keith Cockburn	42.7	1,155	1,165	1,176	1,193	1,255	1,288	1,616
	Liberal Democrats	Nancy Norman	25.0	677	682	690	759	858	1,034
	SNP	Morag Kerr	13.3	359	369	373	409	444
	Borders	David Pye	8.4	228	237	245	272
	Labour	Veronica McTernan	7.5	203	204	207
	UKIP	Mars Goodman	1.6	43	44
	Independent	David Cox	1.6	43
	Conservative hold
Valid: 2,708  Spoilt: 21  Quota: 1,355  Turnout: 2,729

Hawick and Denholm By-Election 22 May 2014 ^[11]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	Independent	Watson McAteer	25.5	732	750	803	900	1,010	1,222	1,505
	Conservative	Trevor Adams	21.6	622	627	638	665	692	798
	Liberal Democrats	Ian Turnbull	15.7	450	455	485	545	637
	SNP	Harry Stoddart	14.6	419	423	461	505
	Independent	Marion Short	11.3	326	334	385
	Independent	Davie Paterson	8.7	250	269
	Independent	Craig Bryson	2.6	74
	Independent gain from Conservative
Valid: 2,873  Spoilt: 47  Quota: 1,437  Turnout: 2,920

2017-2022

Selkirkshire By-Election 22 February 2018 ^[12]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	Independent	Caroline Penman	29.7	1,040	1,049	1,080	1,125	1,231	1,522	2,028
	Conservative	Trevor Adams	39.9	1,380	1,251	1,262	1,276	1,307	1,342
	SNP	John Mitchell	19.8	691	717	729	758	797
	Independent	Kenneth Gunn	6.3	219	226	238	249
	Labour	Scott Redpath	3.8	134	144	158
	Liberal Democrats	Jack Clark	2.7	95	103
	Green	Barbra Harvie	2.0	70
	Independent gain from Conservative
Valid: 3,496  Spoilt: 44  Quota: 1,749  Turnout: 3,536

Leaderdale and Melrose By-Election 11 March 2021 ^[13]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	Conservative	Jenny Linehan	39.9	1,380	1,389	1,399	1,406	1,451	1,653	1,969
	SNP	John Paton-Day	30.2	1,042	1,051	1,069	1,120	1,156	1,297
	Liberal Democrats	Jonny Adamson	15.6	538	542	566	615	682
	Independent	Mary Douglas	4.6	159	177	194	224
	Green	Michael Needham	4.4	152	155	175
	Labour	Scott Redpath	3.3	115	120
	Independent	Karen Wilks	2.0	69
	Conservative gain from SNP
Valid: 3,455  Spoilt: 25  Quota: 1,728  Turnout: 3,480

2022-2027

Jedburgh and District By-Election 22 February 2024 ^[14]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1
	Conservative	John Bathgate	58.5	1,377
	SNP	Phil Dixon	17.4	410
	Labour	Kaymarie Hughes	10.2	241
	Liberal Democrats	Ray Georgeson	7.1	166
	Green	Charles Strang	5.7	135
	Scottish Eco-Federalists	James Clark	1.1	25
	Conservative gain from SNP
Valid: 2,354  Spoilt: 20  Quota: 1,178  Turnout: 2,374

References

1. "Initial Statutory Reviews of Electoral Arrangements". Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland. Retrieved 12 October 2025.
2. "Second Statutory Reviews of Electoral Arrangements". Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland. Retrieved 12 October 2025.
3. "Third Statutory Review of Electoral Arrangements - Scottish Borders Council Area" (PDF). Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland. Retrieved 10 October 2025.
4. "Fifth Statutory Review of Electoral Arrangements Final Recommendations - Scottish Borders Council Area" (PDF). Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland. Retrieved 10 October 2025.
5. "Local Elections Archive Project — Kelso and District North Ward". www.andrewteale.me.uk. Retrieved 12 October 2025.
6. "Tories make byelection gains". The Guardian. 7 May 2004. Retrieved 12 October 2025.
7. "Local Elections Archive Project — Kilnknowe and Clovenfords Ward". www.andrewteale.me.uk. Retrieved 12 October 2025.
8. "Labour turns tables after May 5 defeat". The Guardian. 9 June 2005. Retrieved 12 October 2025.
9. "Election results - Leaderdale and Melrose by-election count reports". scotborders.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016.
10. "Scottish Elections :: Tweeddale West By-Election 2013 - election result". scottishelections.org.uk. Archived from the original on 5 August 2014.
11. "Scottish Elections :: Hawick and Denholm By-Election 2014 - election result". scottishelections.org.uk. Archived from the original on 5 August 2014.
12. Council, Scottish Borders. "Local government by-election results". www.scotborders.gov.uk.
13. Council, Scottish Borders. "Local government by-election results". www.scotborders.gov.uk.
14. "Candidate Votes Per Stage Report". Scottish Borders Council. Retrieved 12 October 2025.