2022 Falkirk Council election

2022 Falkirk Council election

5 May 2022 (2022-05-05)
All 30 seats to Falkirk Council 16 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party   Leader Cecil Meiklejohn Robert Bissett Party SNP Labour Leader's seat Falkirk North Falkirk North Last election 12 seats, 38.8% 9 seats, 23.1% Seats before 12 7 Seats after 12 9 Popular vote 21,066 12,179 Percentage 39.7% 23.0% Swing 0.9% 0.1%   Third party Fourth party   Leader James Kerr N/A Party Conservative Independent Leader's seat Upper Braes Last election 7 seats, 24.5% 2 seats, 9.8% Seats before 7 4 Seats after 5 4 Popular vote 10,326 6,018 Percentage 19.5% 11.4% Swing 5.0% 1.6%
Council Leader before election Cecil Meiklejohn SNP Council Leader after election Cecil Meiklejohn SNP

The 2022 Falkirk Council election was held on 5 May 2022 on the same day as the 31 other Scottish local government elections. The election used the nine wards created following the Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland's 5th Review, with 30 councillors being elected. Each ward elected either three or four members, using the STV electoral system.^[1]

At the last election in 2017, the Scottish National Party (SNP) won the most seats and formed a minority administration.^[2]

Background

Previous election

At the previous election in 2017, the Scottish National Party (SNP) became the largest party, despite losing one seat, overtaking Labour who lost five seats. Two independents were elected, one less than 2012 while the Conservatives gained five seats.^[3]

2017 Falkirk Council election result

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	SNP	12		1	1	40.0	38.8	20,861	1.6
	Labour	9		5	5	30.0	23.1	12,421	14.6
	Conservative	7	5		5	23.3	24.5	13,168	13.3
	Independent	2		1	1	6.7	9.8	5,308	0.7
	Scottish Green	0				0.0	3.6	1,933	New
Total		30						53,754

Notes

^[3]

• 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 in May 2012. 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 dissolution of Scotland's councils.
• Following boundary changes, the number of seats in Falkirk fell from 32 in 2012 to 30 in 2017. Gains and losses are represented against national results which may differ from other published sources.

Composition

Since the previous election, several changes in the composition of the council occurred. Labour councillor John McLuckie and Conservative councillor James Kerr were suspended by their respective parties after having been charged by the police following an investigation into planning irregularities in Falkirk.^[4] SNP councillor Niall Coleman resigned from the party to become an independent.^[5] Two by-elections were held and resulted in an SNP hold^[6] and an SNP gain from Labour.^[2]

	Party	2017 result	Dissolution
	SNP	12	12
	Labour	9	7
	Conservative	7	7
	Independents	2	4

Retiring councillors

Ward	Party		Retiring councillor
Grangemouth		Labour	Allyson Black
Denny and Banknock		Labour	Jim Blackwood
Carse, Kinnaird and Tryst		Labour	Joan Coombes
Bonnybridge and Larbert		Independent	Niall Coleman
Falkirk North		SNP	David Alexander
		Independent	Dennis Goldie
Falkirk South		Conservative	John Patrick
Lower Braes		Conservative	Malcolm Nicol
Upper Braes		SNP	Gordon Hughes

Results

2022 Falkirk Council election

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	SNP	12	0	0	0	40.0	39.7	21,066	0.9
	Labour	9	1	1	0	30.0	23.0	12,179	0.1
	Conservative	5	1	3	2	16.7	19.5	10,326	5.0
	Independent	4	2	0	2	13.3	11.4	6,018	1.6
	Scottish Green	0	0	0	0	0.0	4.5	2,365	0.9
	Liberal Democrats	0	0	0	0	0.0	1.1	603	New
	Alba	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.8	424	New
	Other	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.1	27	0.0
Total		30						53,008

Ward summary

Results of the 2022 Falkirk Council election by ward

Ward	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	Total Cllrs
	SNP		Lab		Conservative		Green		Lib Dem		Ind		Alba		Others
Bo'ness and Blackness	21.74	1	18.64	1	15.12	0	2.44	0	1.61	0	40.58	1					3
Grangemouth	44.85	1	23.38	1	15.23	0	2.42	0			15.06	1			0.54	0	3
Denny and Banknock	46.49	2	20.66	1	16.16	0	3.15	0			13.54	1					4
Carse, Kinnaird and Tryst	44.37	2	24.55	1	24.06	1	4.14	0	2.88	0							4
Bonnybridge and Larbert	33.88	1	17.60	1	18.41	0	4.91	0			25.22	1					3
Falkirk North	47.41	2	28.86	1	13.27	1	5.90	0					4.55	0			4
Falkirk South	41.66	1	22.34	1	28.56	1	5.67	0			1.77	0					3
Lower Braes	39.35	1	27.00	1	23.34	1	5.78	0	3.24	0			1.30	0			3
Upper Braes	34.88	1	23.13	1	21.86	1	5.60	0	2.53	0	10.88	0	1.15	0			3
Total																	30

Ward results

Bo'ness and Blackness

• 2012: 2xSNP; 1xLab
• 2017: 1xSNP; 1xLab; 1xCon
• 2022: 1xSNP; 1xLab; 1xIndependent
• 2017-2022 Change: Independent gain one seat from Conservative

Bo'ness and Blackness - 3 seats^[7]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5
	Independent	Ann Ritchie (incumbent)	40.51	2,262
	SNP	Stacey Devine	21.70	1,212	1,434.54
	Labour	David Aitchison (incumbent)	18.64	1,041	1,229.03	1,238.47
	Conservative	Lynn Munro (incumbent)	15.10	843	950.83	951.93	984.18	995.82
	Scottish Green	Debra Pickering	2.44	136	136	193.94	245.43	211.02
	Liberal Democrats	Nicholas William Pitts	1.61	90	125.3	126.18
Electorate: 12,389   Valid: 5,584   Spoilt: 70   Quota: 1,394   Turnout: 45.6%

Grangemouth

• 2012: 2xLab; 1xSNP; 1xIndependent
• 2017: 1xSNP; 1xLab; 1xIndependent
• 2022: 1xSNP; 1xLab; 1xIndependent
• 2017-2022 Change: No change

Grangemouth - 3 seats^[7]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	SNP	David Balfour (incumbent)	35.85	1,808
	Labour	Alan Nimmo[LOB]	23.38	1,179	1,211.98	1,217.28	1,244.09	1,281.31
	Conservative	Mandy Bryson	13.58	685	694.08	708.01	702.38	725.98	729.38
	Independent	Robert Spears (incumbent)	12.12	611	645.79	647.79	668.61	731.75	738.42	1,071.96	1,391.08
	SNP	John Haston	9.00	454	873.93	876.23	942.91	960.45	962.68	984.84
	Independent	Marc Bozza	3.11	157	165.78	169.77	176.68
	Scottish Green	Rhys Stenhouse	2.42	122	137.73	138.43
	UKIP	Martin Stuart	0.54	27	27.61
Electorate: 12,741   Valid: 5,043   Spoilt: 161   Quota: 1,261   Turnout: 40.5%

Denny and Banknock

• 2012: 2xSNP; 1xLab 1xIndependent
• 2017: 2xSNP; 1xLab; 1xCon
• 2022: 2xSNP; 1xLab; 1xIndependent
• 2017-2022 Change: Independent gain one seat from Conservative

Denny and Banknock - 4 seats^[7]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1
	SNP	Paul Garner (incumbent)	29.42	1,868
	SNP	Fiona Collie (incumbent)	17.07	1,084	1,571.69
	Conservative	Nigel Harris (incumbent)	16.16	1,026	1,033.67	1,041.5	1,056.96	1,073.66	1,092.16
	Labour	Alf Kelly	14.00	889	903.71	935.17	1,011.42	1,368.98
	Independent	Brian McCabe	13.54	860	890.68	929.43	1,031.31	1,072.02	1,106.23	1,610.76
	Labour	James Marshall	6.66	423	433.27	444.87	461.56
	Scottish Green	Rachel Hart	3.15	200	223.01	346.01
Electorate: 15,534   Valid: 6,350   Spoilt: 128   Quota: 1,271   Turnout: 43.8%

Carse, Kinnaird and Tryst

• 2012: 2xLab; 2xSNP
• 2017: 2xSNP; 1xLab; 1xCon
• 2022: 2xSNP; 1xLab; 1xCon
• 2017-2022 Change: No change

Carse, Kinnaird and Tryst - 4 seats^[7]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	SNP	Gary Bouse (incumbent)	27.32	1,961
	Labour	Margaret Anslow	24.55	1,762	1,762	1,436.
	SNP	Laura Murtagh (incumbent)	17.05	1,224	1,670.56
	Conservative	Jim Flynn (incumbent)	15.06	1,081	1,088.49	1.143.63	1,150.23
	Conservative	Robert Kemp	9.00	646	649.75	674.35	678.09	711.89	778.53
	Scottish Green	Tom McLaughlin	4.14	297	326.45	270.98	370.48	492.89	610.00
	Liberal Democrats	Sean McCay	2.88	207	215.57	278.97	314.47
Electorate: 17,252   Valid: 7,178   Spoilt: 156   Quota: 1,436   Turnout: 42.5%

Bonnybridge and Larbert

• 2012: 1xSNP; 1xLab; 1xIndependent
• 2017: 1xSNP; 1xCon; 1xIndependent
• 2022: 1xIndependent; 1xSNP; 1xLab
• 2017-2022 Change: Labour gain one seat from Conservative

Bonnybridge and Larbert - 3 seats^[7]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	Independent	Billy Buchanan (incumbent)	25.22	1,423
	SNP	Bryan Deakin	21.48	1,212	1,214.26	1,276.53	1,988.19
	Conservative	David Grant (incumbent)	18.39	1,038	1,040.52	1,056.57	1,064.59	1,084.79
	Labour	Jack Redmond	17.60	993	996.38	1,072.64	1,111.79	1,327.54	1,942.15
	SNP	Jim Muir	12.40	700	700.94	797.07
	Scottish Green	David Robertson	4.91	277	277.94
Electorate: 13,094   Valid: 5,643   Spoilt: 87   Quota: 1,411   Turnout: 43.8%

Falkirk North

• 2012: 2xSNP; 2xLab
• 2017: 2xSNP; 2xLab
• 2022: 2xSNP; 1xLab; 1xCon
• 2017-2022 Change: Conservative gain one seat from Labour

Falkirk North - 4 seats^[7]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1
	SNP	Cecil Meiklejohn (incumbent)	35.01	2,260
	Labour	Robert Bissett (incumbent)	22.68	1,464
	Conservative	James Bundy	13.27	857	863.85	867.95	880.64	912.95	947.87	1,277.89
	SNP	Iain Sinclair	12.41	801	1,625.50
	Labour	Robbie Burgess	6.18	399	423.41	466.48	604.17	651.31	929.0
	Scottish Green	Judith McLaughlin	5.90	381	424.26	553.38	557.96	631.1
	Alba	Zohaib Arshad	4.55	294	307.28	345.31	348.36
Electorate: 16,749   Valid: 6,456   Spoilt: 174   Quota: 1,292   Turnout: 39.6%

Falkirk South

• 2012: 2xLab; 1xSNP; 1xCon
• 2017: 1xLab; 1xSNP; 1xCon
• 2022: 1xSNP; 1xCon; 1xLab
• 2017-2022 Change: No change

Falkirk South - 3 seats^[7]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5
	SNP	Lorna Binnie (incumbent)	30.18	1,843
	Conservative	Sarah Patrick	28.56	1,744
	Labour	Euan Stainbank	22.34	1,364	1,380.46	1,478.63	1,524.51	1,652.32
	SNP	Emma Russell (incumbent)	11.48	701	959.03	964.61	977.33
	Scottish Green	Hunter Thomson	5.67	346	359.16	377.86	408.23
	Independent	Richard Wilson	1.77	108	111.09	138.58
Electorate: 13,395   Valid: 6,106   Spoilt: 102   Quota: 1,527   Turnout: 46.3%

Lower Braes

• 2012: 1xCon; 1xSNP; 1xLab
• 2017: 1xCon; 1xSNP; 1xLab
• 2022: 1xLab; 1xSNP; 1xCon
• 2017-2022 Change: No change

Lower Braes - 3 seats^[7]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	Labour	Anne Hannah	27.00	1,393
	SNP	Gordon Forrest	23.36	1,205	1,213.21	1,237.65	1,248.06	1,330.98
	Conservative	James Kerr[UPB]	23.34	1,204	1,225.29	1,237.65	1,297.984	1,330.97
	SNP	Adanna McCue (incumbent)	15.99	825	830.32	841.55	848.75	848.91
	Scottish Green	Doug Sheehan	5.78	298	309.76	378.19	320.97
	Liberal Democrats	Hunter Ashley	3.24	167	195.32	201.86
	Alba	Scott Fallon	1.30	67	69.44
Electorate: 12,003   Valid: 5,159   Spoilt: 48   Quota: 1,290   Turnout: 43.6%

Upper Braes

• 2012: 2xLab; 1xSNP
• 2017: 1xCon; 1xSNP; 1xLab
• 2022: 1xSNP; 1xLab; 1xCon
• 2017-2022 Change: No change

Upper Braes - 3 seats^[7]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1
	SNP	Jim Robertson	34.88	1,918
	Labour	Siobhan Paterson	23.13	1,272	1,365.42	1,370.55	1,384.12
	Conservative	Claire Brown	21.86	1,202	1,214.45	1,219.45	1,224.46	1,225.95	1,233.53	1,259.08	1,406.68
	Independent	John McLuckie (incumbent)	8.35	459	489.57	499.27	548.80	550.05	568.17	603.26
	Scottish Green	Rachel Kidd	5.60	308	516.93	520.78	535.32	536.81	586.76	644.66	740.41
	Liberal Democrats	Austin Reid	2.53	139	161.65	161.65	168.21	170.22	177.23
	Independent	Ian Kennedy	1.62	89	98.34	114.04
	Alba	Colin Todd	1.15	63	110.56	114.13	118.13	118.39
	Independent	Mark Tunnicliff	0.89	49	55.23
Electorate: 12,734   Valid: 5,499   Spoilt: 79   Quota: 1,375   Turnout: 43.8%

Aftermath

Falkirk South by-election

In July 2024, Labour councillor Euan Stainbank was elected as MP for Falkirk at the 2024 United Kingdom general election and subsequently resigned as a councillor in August 2024.^[8] A by-election was held on 17 October 2024 and was won by Labour candidate Claire Aitken.^[9]

Falkirk South (17 October 2024) – 1 seat

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	SNP	Carol Anne Beattie	31.3	1,043	1,048	1,113	1,156	1,189	1,218
	Labour	Claire Aitken	30.5	1,014	1,048	1,090	1,132	1,161	1,329	1,724
	Conservative	David Grant	14.7	488	498	503	524	652
	Reform UK	Stuart Martin	9.9	330	341	343	371
	Independent	Sharron McKean	5.5	184	199	216
	Scottish Green	Tom McLaughlin	4.5	151	161
	Liberal Democrats	Sean McCay	3.6	119
Electorate: 13,528   Valid: 3,329   Spoilt: 36   Quota: 1,665   Turnout: 24.9%

Source:^[10][11]

Notes

1. LOB: Sitting councillor for Lower Braes.
2. UPB: Sitting councillor for Upper Braes.

References

1. "Elections & voting - Local Government Elections 2022". Falkirk Council. Retrieved 12 April 2022.
2. Webster, Laura (15 October 2021). "SNP secure Falkirk by-election win as Labour's support 'collapses'". The National. Retrieved 28 April 2022.
3. Teale, Andrew. "Local Elections Results 2017 Falkirk". Local Elections Archive Project. Retrieved 28 April 2022.
4. "Falkirk councillors charged over planning concerns". BBC News. 21 September 2018. Retrieved 25 April 2022.
5. Trimble, James (13 March 2022). "Falkirk councillor resigns from SNP". Falkirk Herald. Retrieved 28 April 2022.
6. "Bonnybridge and Larbert (Fk) By-Election 15/02/18". Ballot Box Scotland. 22 January 2018. Retrieved 25 April 2022.
7. "Falkirk Council 2022 Election Results". Falkirk Council. Retrieved 29 July 2022.
8. Dobie, Fiona (16 September 2024). "Candidates confirmed for Falkirk South by-election". The Falkirk Herald. Retrieved 18 October 2024.
9. Buchanan, Jill (18 October 2024). "Labour victory in Falkirk South by-election". The Falkirk Herald. Retrieved 19 October 2024.
10. "Declaration of Results Report Ward 7 Falkirk South" (PDF). Falkirk Council. 18 October 2024. Retrieved 19 October 2024.
11. "Candidate Votes Per Stage Report Ward 7 Falkirk South" (PDF). Falkirk Council. 18 October 2024. Retrieved 19 October 2024.