Aberdeen City Council is the local government authority for the city of Aberdeen, Scotland. It was created in 1996, under the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994, though a sense of Aberdeen as a city, with its own city council, can be traced back to 1900, when the county of the city of Aberdeen was created.
Local government in Scotland comprises thirty-two local authorities, commonly referred to as councils. Each council provides public services, including education, social care, waste management, libraries and planning. Councils receive the majority of their funding from the Scottish Government, but operate independently and are accountable to their local electorates. Councils raise additional income via the Council Tax, a locally variable domestic property tax, and Business rates, a non-domestic property tax.
The 2007 United Kingdom local elections were held on Thursday 3 May 2007. These elections took place in most of England and all of Scotland. There were no local government elections in Wales though the Welsh Assembly had a general election on the same day. There were no local government elections in Northern Ireland. Just over half of English councils and almost all the Scottish councils began the counts on Friday, rather than Thursday night, because of more complex arrangements regarding postal votes.
The politics of the Highland council area in Scotland are evident in the deliberations and decisions of the Highland Council, in elections to the council, and in elections to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (Westminster) and the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood). In the European Parliament the area was within the Scotland constituency, which covers all of the 32 council areas of Scotland.
Elections to the Highland Council were held on 3 May 2007; the same day as elections to the Scottish Parliament and to the 31 other councils in Scotland. Previous elections to the council had been conducted using the single member plurality system. Changes implemented by the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004 meant that future local government elections were to be conducted using the Single Transferable Vote, beginning with those in 2007. The 80 Highland Councillors were now to be elected from 22 wards, returning either three or four members.
Elections to the Highland Council were held on 1 May 2003; the same day as elections to the Scottish Parliament and to the 31 other councils in Scotland. 80 councillors were elected from 80 wards using the plurality system. Independent councillors retained their status as the majority group, with councillors also being elected representing the Labour Party, Liberal Democrats, and Scottish National Party.
The Highland Council, the political body covering the Highland local authority created in 1995, comprises 21 wards, each electing three or four councillors by the single transferable vote system, which creates a form of proportional representation. The total number of councillors is 74, and the main meeting place and main offices are at the Highland Council Headquarters in Glenurquhart Road, Inverness.
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.
Elections to Herefordshire Council were held on 1 May 2003, along with other local elections in England and Scotland. Due to prior boundary reviews, all 38 wards were contested - with each ward electing either one two or three members to the council, with each successful candidate serving a four-year term of office, expiring in 2007. The council remained in no overall control, with the Conservative Party replacing the Liberal Democrats as the largest party on the council, winning 20 out of a total of 56 seats on the council.
The City of Glasgow is divided into a number of wards. These electoral districts, as they are also known, are used to elect councillors to Glasgow City Council. The council, composed of the elected members from each ward, provides local government services to the City of Glasgow.
The 2022 United Kingdom local elections took place on Thursday 5 May 2022. These included elections for all London borough councils, for all local authorities in Wales and Scotland. Most seats in England were last up for election in 2018 and in Scotland and Wales in 2017. The elections coincided with the 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election. In 91 cases, most of them in Wales, council seats were uncontested, each having only one candidate. Three seats in Scotland remained unfilled as no one nominated to fill them.
The 2022 Scottish local elections were held on 5 May 2022, as part of the 2022 United Kingdom local elections. All 1,227 seats across all 32 Scottish local authorities were up for election and voter turnout was 44.8%.
The 2022 election to Moray Council took place on 5 May 2022, on the same day as the 31 other local authorities in Scotland. The election used the eight wards created under the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004, with 26 Councillors elected. Each ward elects either 3 or 4 members, using the STV electoral system.
The Dundee City Council election took place on 5 May 2022, the same day as the 31 other Scottish local government elections. Each ward elected three or four councillors using the single transferable vote system, a form of proportional representation used since the 2007 election and according to the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004.
Elections to South Lanarkshire Council took place on 5 May 2022 on the same day as the 31 other Scottish local government elections.
Elections to East Ayrshire Council took place on 5 May 2022 on the same day as the 31 other Scottish local government elections. For the third consecutive election, the Scottish National Party (SNP) were returned as the largest party with 14 seats but remained shy of an overall majority. Labour gained back some of the ground they had lost at the previous election and were again returned as the second-largest party with 10 seats. The Conservatives lost one-third of their seats to return four councillors while The Rubbish Party retained their only seat. Three independent candidates were also elected.
Elections to North Ayrshire Council took place on 5 May 2022 on the same day as the 31 other Scottish local government elections.
Elections to Aberdeenshire Council took place on Thursday 5 May 2022 on the same day as the 31 other Scottish local government elections.
Elections to Perth and Kinross Council were held on 5 May 2022 as part of the 2022 Scottish local elections. 40 Councillors were elected from 12 multi-members electoral wards under the Single Transferable Vote electoral system. The Scottish Conservatives had run Perth and Kinross Council as a minority administration immediately prior to the election, with a previous coalition with the Scottish Liberal Democrats collapsing mid-way through the term. Twelve incumbent Councillors, including two group leaders, decided not to seek re-election whilst others stood again but lost their seats.
