2017 Clackmannanshire Council election

2017 Clackmannanshire Council election
All 18 seats to Clackmannanshire Council; 10 seats needed for a majority
	The 5 multi-member ward. (Colour of ward represents the political party that received most votes in that ward)
Council Leader before election; Gary Womersley; SNP	Council Leader after election ; Les Sharp; SNP

The Clackmannanshire Council election of 2017 was held on 4 May 2017, on the same day as the 31 other local authorities in Scotland. It was the third successive election to run under the STV electoral system and used the five wards created under the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004, with 18 councillors being elected.

Result

As Scottish Labour lost three seats and the Scottish National Party held all of theirs, the SNP became the largest party for the first time. The Scottish Conservatives unexpectedly won a seat in every ward, equalling their representation on the council with that of Labour.^[1]

During the first meeting of the new council on 18 May, however, an agreement was not reached on how to form an administration.^[2] In June 2017 a minority SNP administration was formed.^[3]

2017 Dumfries and Galloway Council election result
	Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
SNP	8	0	0	0	44.4	37.1	6,525	-8.8
Labour	5	0	3	-3	27.8	27.8	4,887	-10.3
Conservative	5	4	0	+4	27.8	24.9	4,382	+15.1
Scottish Green	0	0	0	0	0.0	6.5	1,141	New
Liberal Democrats	0	0	0	0	0.0	3.1	553	+2.3
Independent	0	0	1	-1	0.0	0.5	85	-4.6

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

Clackmannanshire West

2012-2017 Change: 1 Lab loss and 1 Con gain

Clackmannanshire West – 4 seats^[4]
Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
Party		Candidate	FPv%	1	2	3	4	5	6
	Conservative	Darren Lee	21.4	808
	Labour	George Matchett (incumbent)	19.9	753	763
	SNP	Tina Margaret Murphy (incumbent)	18.6	704	705	705	717	722	766
	SNP	Les Sharp (incumbent)	17.8	675	675	676	680	701	751
	Labour	Craig Miller	12.6	478	482	488	505	541	590
	Scottish Green	Cara Quinn	4.2	159	161	161	177	215
	Liberal Democrats	Jim Hay	2.9	112	122	122	142
	Independent	Thomas Joshua Harrison	2.2	85	91	91
Electorate: 8,726 Valid: 3,774 Spoilt: 97 Quota: 755 Turnout: 3,871 (44.36%)

Clackmannanshire North

2012-2017 Change: 1 Independent loss and 1 Con gain

Clackmannanshire North – 4 seats^[4]
Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
Party		Candidate	FPv%	1	2	3	4	5
	Conservative	Martha Benny	24	969
	SNP	Archie Drummond (incumbent)†	16.6	672	675	709	745	909
	SNP	Donald Balsille (incumbent)	16.3	660	666	690	711	841
	Labour	Dave Clark (incumbent)	15.9	644	678	698	764	773
	Labour	Bobby McGill (incumbent)	10.7	432	446	453	507	513
	SNP	Helen Lewis	7.2	292	293	313	323
	Liberal Democrats	Damian Sherwood-Johnson	5.1	206	240	283
	Scottish Green	Jack Gervaise	3.8	157	167
Electorate: 8,371 Valid: 4,032 Spoilt: 127 Quota: 807 Turnout: 4,159 (49.68%)

Clackmannanshire Central

2012-2017 Change: 1 Lab Loss; 1 Con Gain

Clackmannanshire Central – 3 seats^[4]
Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
Party		Candidate	FPv%	1	2	3	4	5
	Labour	Derek Stewart (incumbent)	32.8	846
	SNP	Phil Fairlie†††	27.7	714
	Conservative	Mike Watson	16.6	428	443	444	464	550
	SNP	Jo Wilkinson	10.5	273	281	337	393	438
	Labour	Graham Watt (incumbent)	7.1	183	321	324	356
	Scottish Green	John Short	5.1	133	139	143
Electorate: 6,297 Valid: 2,577 Spoilt: 79 Quota: 645 Turnout: 2,656 (42.18%)

Clackmannanshire South

2012-2017 Change: 1 Con Gain from Lab

Clackmannanshire South – 4 seats^[4]
Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
Party		Candidate	FPv%	1	2	3	4	5
	SNP	Craig Holden (incumbent)	22.4	831
	Conservative	Chris Dixon††	19.6	725	726	759
	SNP	Ellen Forson (incumbent)	17.5	649	716	721	721	730
	Labour	Kenneth Earle (incumbent)	17.3	640	644	660	665	817
	Scottish Green	Bryan Quinn	15.1	560	569	583	587	601
	Labour	Christine Sinclair	5.5	205	207	212	214
	Liberal Democrats	John Shier Biggam	2.2	84	84
Electorate: 8,976 Valid: 3,694 Spoilt: 86 Quota: 739 Turnout: 3,780 (42.11%)

Clackmannanshire East

2012-2017 Change: None

Clackmannanshire East – 3 seats^[4]
Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
Party		Candidate	FPv%	1	2	3	4
	Conservative	Bill Mason††††	41.0	1,452
	Labour	Kathleen Martin (incumbent)	19.9	706	839	868	882
	SNP	Graham Lindsay	19.5	692	699	724	1,079
	Liberal Democrats	Anne Anderson	4.3	151	345	406	414
	SNP	Jane McTaggart	10.3	363	368	390
	Scottish Green	Marion Robertson	3.7	132	160
Electorate: 6,607 Valid: 3496 Spoilt: 40 Quota: 875 Turnout: 3,536 (53.52%)

Changes since 2017

† Clackmannanshire North SNP Cllr Archie Drummond resigned his seat for personal reasons in late December 2017.^[5] A by-election was held on 1 March 2018 and the seat was retained by the party's Helen Lewis.
††Clackmannanshire South Cllr Chris Dixon on 7 March 2018 resigned from the Scottish Conservative Party on health reasons and now sits as an independent councillor.^[6]
††† Clackmannanshire Central SNP Cllr Phil Fairlie resigned his seat due to personal and professional reasons.^[7] A by-election was held on 18 March 2019. The seat was retained by Jane McTaggart of the SNP.
†††† Clackmannanshire East Conservative Cllr Bill Mason resigned his seat due to ill-health on 31 December 2019.^[8] This by-election was scheduled for 19 March but was deferred due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Scotland until 19 November 2020, when it was retained by Denis Coyne of the Scottish Conservative Party.

By-elections since 2017

Clackmannanshire North By-election (1 March 2018)^[9]^[10]
Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
Party		Candidate	FPv%	1	2
	SNP	Helen Lewis	36.8	769	980
	Conservative	Alex Stewart	31.5	658	784
	Labour	Afifa Khanam	23.6	493
	Liberal Democrats	Damian Sherwood-Johnson	4.0	84
	Scottish Green	Marion Robertson	3.5	74
Electorate: 8,457 Valid: 2,078 Spoilt: 14 Quota: 1,040 Turnout: 2,092 (24.7%)

Clackmannanshire Central By-election (28 March 2019)^[11]
Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
Party		Candidate	FPv%	1	2
	SNP	Jane McTaggart	40.9	865	933
	Labour	Margaret Brookes	31.9	675	814
	Conservative	William Marlin	19.8	419
	UKIP	Dawson Michie	3.3	69
	Scottish Green	Marion Robertson	2.5	53
	Liberal Democrats	John Biggam	1.7	36
Electorate: 6,184 Valid: 2,117 Spoilt: 29 Quota: 1,059 Turnout: (34.7%)

Clackmannanshire East By-election (19 November 2020)^[12]
Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
Party		Candidate	FPv%	1
	Conservative	Denis Coyne	51.2	1,226
	SNP	Stephen Leitch	32.0	766
	Labour	Carolynne Hunter	8.1	195
	Scottish Green	Marion Robertson	5.8	139
	Liberal Democrats	Jim Hay	2.9	69
Valid: 2,395 Quota: 1,197

References

^ "Clacks election result". Alloa and Hillfoots Advertiser. Retrieved 20 May 2017.
^ "SNP and Labour freeze out Tories in East Renfrewshire". BBC News. 19 May 2017. Retrieved 20 May 2017.
^ "Cooperation and collaboration on the agenda at Clacks Council".
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "Local Election Results 2017 – Clackmannanshire". Local Elections Archive Project. Retrieved 9 May 2022.
^ "Councillor Drummond cites personal reason for resignation". Alloa and Hillfoots Advertiser. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
^ "Councillor Chris Dixon". clacks.gov.uk. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
^ "SNP Councillor Phil Fairlie resigns". Alloa and Hillfoots Advertiser. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
^ "Clacks by-election triggered as councillor steps down". Alloa Advertiser. 13 December 2019. Retrieved 15 April 2021.
^ McPherson, Elaine (29 January 2018). "Clackmannanshire Council – Notice of Poll – By-Election of Councillor – 1 March 2018 for the election of one councillor for Electoral Ward 2 – Clackmannanshire North" (PDF). Clackmannanshire Council. Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 June 2021.
^ "Clackmannanshire North Ward 1st March 2018". Local Elections Archive Project. Retrieved 9 May 2022.
^ "Clackmannanshire Central Ward 28th March 2019". Local Elections Archive Project. Retrieved 9 May 2022.
^ "Clackmannanshire East By-Election, 19/11/20". Ballot Box Scotland. 18 February 2020. Archived from the original on 2 June 2021.

[1] "Clacks election result". Alloa and Hillfoots Advertiser. Retrieved 20 May 2017.

[2] "SNP and Labour freeze out Tories in East Renfrewshire". BBC News. 19 May 2017. Retrieved 20 May 2017.

[3] "Cooperation and collaboration on the agenda at Clacks Council".

[results-4] "Local Election Results 2017 – Clackmannanshire". Local Elections Archive Project. Retrieved 9 May 2022.

[5] "Councillor Drummond cites personal reason for resignation". Alloa and Hillfoots Advertiser. Retrieved 1 April 2019.

[6] "Councillor Chris Dixon". clacks.gov.uk. Retrieved 1 April 2019.

[7] "SNP Councillor Phil Fairlie resigns". Alloa and Hillfoots Advertiser. Retrieved 1 April 2019.

[8] "Clacks by-election triggered as councillor steps down". Alloa Advertiser. 13 December 2019. Retrieved 15 April 2021.

[9] McPherson, Elaine (29 January 2018). "Clackmannanshire Council – Notice of Poll – By-Election of Councillor – 1 March 2018 for the election of one councillor for Electoral Ward 2 – Clackmannanshire North" (PDF). Clackmannanshire Council. Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 June 2021.

[10] "Clackmannanshire North Ward 1st March 2018". Local Elections Archive Project. Retrieved 9 May 2022.

[11] "Clackmannanshire Central Ward 28th March 2019". Local Elections Archive Project. Retrieved 9 May 2022.

[12] "Clackmannanshire East By-Election, 19/11/20". Ballot Box Scotland. 18 February 2020. Archived from the original on 2 June 2021.

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