Elections to The Highland Council were held on 5 May 2022, 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 first time, a political party won the most seats in a Highland Council election as the Scottish National Party (SNP) replaced independent councillors as the largest group on the council after winning 22 seats. In total, 21 independents were elected. The Liberal Democrats gained five seats to hold 15 while the Conservatives matched their record-breaking performance at the 2017 election by holding 10 seats. The Greens overtook Labour to become the fifth-largest group on the council after gaining three seats to hold four. Labour lost one seat to hold two.
Following the election, the SNP and independent groups formed a coalition to run the council.
At the previous election in 2017, a plurality of councillors returned were independents with 28 elected – seven fewer than the previous election. The Scottish National Party (SNP) were the largest political party elected with 22 seats while the Conservatives won their first seats on the council since 1995 as they gained 10 seats – their best ever result in the region. Both the Liberal Democrats and Labour lost five seats to hold 10 and three respectively while the Greens won their first representation on the council.[1][2]
As a result, the independent group formed a coalition administration with the Labour and Liberal Democrat groups to run the council.[3]
Since the previous election, there were several changes in the composition of the council. A number were changes to the political affiliation of councillors, including SNP councillors Calum MacLeod, Maxine Smith, Pauline Munro and Liz MacDonald who resigned from the party to become independents[5][6] and independent councillor Donnie Mackay who resigned from the independent administration to join the Conservatives.[7] Independent councillor Andrew Baxter was removed from the independent administration and initially continued under the designation "Real Independent" before joining the Conservatives.[8] SNP councillor Ken Gowans resigned from the party to become an independent in 2017 before subsequently rejoining the party the following year.[9]
In total, nine by-elections were held and resulted in an independent gain from the Liberal Democrats,[10] a Liberal Democrats gain from the SNP,[11] an SNP gain from the Liberal Democrats,[12] an SNP hold,[13] an independent hold,[14] an independent gain from the Conservatives,[15] two Liberal Democrats gains from independents[16] and an SNP gain from the Conservatives.[17] Independent councillor Ben Thompson resigned from the council in November 2021 and Tom Heggie, also an independent councillor, died in February 2022 which left vacancies on the council which would not be filled as they occurred less than six months before the election.[18][19]
Note 1: Two vacancies created less than six months before the election were not filled so there were only 72 councillors prior to the poll.
Retiring councillors
Of the 72 sitting councillors before the election, 30 did not stand for re-election. Additionally, four councillors contested different wards from the ones they previously represented. With four sitting councillors defeated at the polls, only 38 sitting councillors were re-elected in 2022.
Following the passing of the Islands (Scotland) Act 2018, a review of the boundaries was undertaken in North Ayrshire, Argyll and Bute, Highland, Orkney Islands, Shetland Islands and the Western Isles. The Act allowed single- or two-member wards to be created to provide better representation of island communities. New ward boundaries were proposed by Boundaries Scotland in 2021 which would have reduced the number of wards by one to 20 and the number of councillors by one to 73. The proposals would have made no changes to the boundaries or numbers of councillors in Cromarty Firth; Fort William and Ardnamurchan; Nairn and Cawdor and Thurso and North West Caithness. The boundaries in Eilean a' Cheò (Scottish Gaelic for 'Isle of Skye') and North, West and Central Sutherland would have remained the same but the numbers of councillors would have been reduced from four to three and from three to two respectively. Further changes would have seen four new wards created in Inverness, with the total number of councillors representing the city rising from 16 to 18 while Caol and Mallaig would have been renamed Caol, Mallaig and the Small Isles to recognise the island communities within the ward. Boundaries Scotland said the changes would "create more recognisable ward boundaries by Inverness, Tain and Knoydart" and "better align with the historical Caithness–Sutherland county boundary". However, the proposals in Highland were rejected by the Scottish Parliament and the 21 wards created under the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004 remained in place.[21][22]
Candidates
The total number of candidates fell from 166 in 2017 to 142. The election again saw the number of independent candidates outstrip the number selected by any political party as 40 stood for election – down from 61 in 2017. However, this was less than half the number which had regularly contested elections in Highland since the local government reforms in the 1990s which peaked at 108 in 2003 – the last election before the introduction of STV.[23] The SNP fielded more candidates than any other political party at 23 – down from the 32 fielded at the previous election – but they did not contest every ward as they had in 2017. Both the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives contested every ward and stood 21 candidates each as they did in 2017. Labour stood 14 candidates – down from 18 – while the Greens stood 11 candidates – up from eight – and the Libertarians stood two candidates – up from one in 2017. The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) stood a candidate for the first time since 2012. For the first time, the Alba Party (four), the Scottish Family Party (one), the Independence for Scotland Party (ISP) (one) and the Freedom Alliance (one) stood candidates in a Highland election. Neither the Scottish Socialist Party, the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) nor the Scottish Christian Party, which had all contested the 2017 elections, stood any candidates.[2][20]
Uncontested seats
After nominations closed on 30 March 2022, there were not enough candidates in Caol and Mallaig to require an election: three candidates stood for the three seats available. As a result, Green candidate Andrew Baldrey, Liberal Democrats candidate John Colin Grafton and Conservative candidate Liz Saggers were elected without a poll. This was one of a number of uncontested wards across Scotland, with a total of 18 councillors automatically elected. Despite their candidate being elected without a poll, the lack of interest in standing for election was called a "threat to local democracy" by the Greens. During the 2017 local elections in Scotland, just three council wards were uncontested, but votes were held in every ward in both 2007 and 2012 – the first elections to use multi-member wards and the Single transferable vote. Public disinterest in standing for election to local councils has been linked to the "ridiculous" size of some local authorities and the low pay councillors receive for their work.[24][25][26]
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.[27][28]
Ward summary
Results of the 2022 Highland 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.
Note 2: In 2017, Cllr Smith was elected as an SNP candidate but later resigned from the party.[6] Now known as Cllr Maxine Morley-Smith, she retained her seat as an independent candidate.
Ward results
North, West and Central Sutherland
The SNP, the Liberal Democrats and independent candidate Hugh Morrison retained the seats they had won at the previous election.
The SNP, the Conservatives and independent candidate Matthew Reiss retained the seats they had won at the previous election while the Liberal Democrats gained one seat from former independent councillor Donnie MacKay. In 2017, Donnie MacKay was elected as an independent candidate but later joined the Conservatives.[7] He did not stand for re-election.
The SNP, the Conservatives and independent candidate A. I. Willie MacKay retained the seats they had won at the previous election while the Liberal Democrats gained one seat from independent councillor Nicola Sinclair.
The Liberal Democrats and independent candidate Jim McGillivray retained the seats they had won at the previous election while the SNP gained one seat from Labour.
The SNP, the Conservatives and independent candidate Biz Campbell retained the seats they had won at the previous election while the SNP also gained a seat from the Liberal Democrats.
The SNP held one of their two seats and the Liberal Democrats gained one seat from the SNP. Independent candidate Pauline Munro also retained the seat she had won at the previous election and their remained two independents after Maxine Morley-Smith was re-elected as an independent candidate. In 2017, Cllr Smith – as she was known at the time – was elected as an SNP candidate and later resigned from the party
The SNP and the Liberal Democrats retained the seats they had won at the previous election while independent candidate Alasdair Rhind gained a seat from independent candidate Fiona Robertson. Cllr Rhind was previously elected to represent the ward following a by-election in 2017 triggered by the resignation of former Liberal Democrat councillor Jamie Stone.[10]
The SNP, the Liberal Democrats and independent candidate Margaret Paterson retained the seats they had won at the previous election while independent candidate Sean Edward Kennedy gained a seat from former independent councillor Alister MacKinnon.
The SNP and the Liberal Democrats retained the seats they had won at the previous election while independent candidate Sarah Atkin gained a seat from former independent councillor Jennifer Barclay.
The SNP and independent candidate John Finlayson retained the seats they had won at the previous election while the Conservatives and independent candidate Calum Munro gained seats from former independent councillors John Gordon and Ronald McDonald. Cllr Munro was previously elected to represent the ward following a by-election in 2020 triggered by the resignation of former independent councillor Ronald McDonald.[14]
The Liberal Democrats, the Conservatives and the Greens were elected unopposed. This resulted in gains from the SNP and former independent councillors Allan Henderson and Ben Thompson.
The SNP and the Conservatives retained the seats they had won at the previous election while the Greens and independent candidate David Fraser gained seats from independent former councillors Margaret Davidson and Helen Carmichael. Cllr Fraser was previously elected to represent the ward following a by-election in 2021 triggered by the death of former Conservative councillor George Cruikshank.[15]
The Liberal Democrats and the SNP retained the seats they had won at the previous election while the Greens gained a seat from former independent councillor Graham Ross.
The SNP and Labour retained the seats they had won at the previous election while the SNP gained a seat from former independent councillor Janet Campbell.
The SNP and the Liberal Democrats retained the seats they had won at the previous election while Labour gained a seat from the Conservatives. In 2017, Ron MacWilliam was elected as an SNP candidate. He stood as an independent candidate in 2022.[20]
The SNP and the Liberal Democrats retained the seats they had won at the previous election while independent candidate Morven Reid gained a seat from former independent councillor Roddy Balfour.
The SNP, the Conservatives and independent councillor Laurie Fraser retained the seats they had won at the previous election while independent candidate Michael Green gained a seat from former independent councillor Tom Heggie.
The SNP, the Conservatives and independent councillor Bill Lobban retained the seats they had won at the previous election while independent candidate Russell Jones gained a seat from the Greens.
The SNP retained one of the two seats they had won at the previous election while the Liberal Democrats, the Greens and independent candidate Thomas MacLennan gained seats from the SNP, the Conservatives and former independent councillor Andrew Baxter.
For the first time, a political party won the most seats in a Highland Council election.[23] The SNP maintained the 22 seats they had won at the previous election – enough to leapfrog the total number of independent councillors elected which fell from 28 to 21.[20] As a result, the SNP group formed a coalition with independent councillors to run the council. SNP group leader, Cllr Raymond Bremner, was elected as council leader - the first person from Caithness and the first fluent Gaelic speaker to hold the role – while independent group leader Cllr Bill Lobban was elected as convener.[72]
Conservative councillor Andrew Jarvie resigned from the party to sit as an independent in December 2022 following a row over Avonlea Children's Home in Wick. He stated his desire to setup his own unionist political group.[73] Cllr Jarvie and four other independent councillors – namely Cllrs Duncan MacPherson, Maxine Morley-Smith, Matthew Reiss and Jim McGillivray – formed a new political group known as the Highlands Alliance in October 2023.[74]
In February 2024, SNP councillor Karl Rosie resigned from the party to sit as an independent citing the party's "incoherent independence strategy"[31] and Conservative councillor Patrick Logue defected to the Liberal Democrats.[75] Cllr Rosie later joined the Alba Party in March 2024.[32]
2023 Tain and Easter Ross by-election
Tain and Easter Ross Liberal Democrat councillor Sarah Rawlings resigned in June 2023.[76] A by-election was held on 28 September 2023 with independent Maureen Ross elected.[77] Cllr Ross has joined the Highland Independent grouping on the council.[78]
Inverness South Liberal Democrat councillor Colin Aitken resigned in February 2024.[81] A by-election held on 11 April 2024 was won by independent candidate Duncan Cameron McDonald.[82]
A second Tain and Easter Ross by-election of the term was called following the death of independent councillor Alasdair Rhind.[85] The election was held on 13 June 2024 and was won by independent candidate Laura Dundas.[86]
In May 2024, Inverness Central councillor Bet McAllister announced her intention to retire after 17 years as a councillor the following month.[89] This was followed by the "surprise resignations" of Cromarty Firth councillors Pauline Munro and Molly Nolan in June 2024.[90] The resulting by-elections were both held on 26 September 2024.[91][92] Labour candidate Michael Gregson won the Inverness Central by-election while Liberal Democrat candidate, John Edmondson, and independent candidate, Sinclair Coghill, were elected in Cromarty Firth.[93][94]
Cromarty Firth by-election (26 September 2024) - 2 seats
For the result of the 1995 election, see Rallings, Colin; Thrasher, Michael (1995). Local Elections Handbook 1995(PDF). Plymouth: Local Government Chronicle Elections Centre, University of Plymouth. ISBN0-948858-19-2. Retrieved 31 March 2024.
For the result of the 1999 election, see Rallings, Colin; Thrasher, Michael (1999). Local Elections Handbook 1999(PDF). Plymouth: Local Government Chronicle Elections Centre, University of Plymouth. ISBN0-948858-25-7. Retrieved 31 March 2024.
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