2017 Glasgow City Council election

4 May 2017 (2017-05-04)
All 85 seats to Glasgow City Council 43 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Leader Susan Aitken Frank McAveety David Meikle Party SNP Labour Conservative Leader's seat Langside Shettleston Pollokshields Last election 27 seats, 32.6% 44 seats, 46.7% 1 seat, 5.9% Seats won 39 31 8 Seat change 12 13 7 Popular vote 70,239 51,778 25,018 Percentage 41.0% 30.2% 14.6% Swing 8.4% 16.5% 8.65%   Fourth party Fifth party   Party Scottish Green Liberal Democrats Last election 5 seats, 5.5% 1 seat, 2.93% Seats won 7 0 Seat change 2 1 Popular vote 14,925 5,013 Percentage 8.7% 2.92% Swing 3.2% 0.01%
Overall Result SNP vote share by wards Labour vote share by wards Conservative vote share by wards Green vote share by wards
Council Leader before election Frank McAveety Labour Council Leader after election Susan Aitken Scottish National Party

The Glasgow City Council election of 2017 was held on 4 May 2017, the same day as the 31 other Scottish local government elections. The election was the first to use 23 new wards, created as a result of the Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland's 5th Review.^[1] 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.

As predicted in the weeks leading up to the election,^[2] the Scottish Labour were replaced by the Scottish National Party as the largest party in the council, a first for the SNP and ending Labour's 37-year tenure of control,^[3] although the SNP were four seats short of an overall majority. The Scottish Conservatives gained seven seats, their best result since the 1984 election. This included some unexpected victories in wards such as Shettleston and Calton, some of Glasgow's most deprived areas in the east. The Scottish Greens also made gains to give them their best ever result in Glasgow's local elections, taking seven seats, two more than in 2012, and topping the first-preference vote in Hillhead to the west. The Scottish Liberal Democrats lost their only remaining seat, making this council the first without any Liberal representation since 1974.

On 18 May, the SNP formally took control of the council as a minority administration with SNP members filling the positions of council leader, depute council leader, and Lord Provost.^[4]

Election results

2017 Glasgow City Council election

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	SNP	39	12	0	12	45.88	40.96	70,239	8.39
	Labour	31	0	13	13	36.47	30.20	51,778	16.52
	Conservative	8	7	0	7	9.41	14.59	25,018	8.65
	Scottish Green	7	3	1	2	8.24	8.70	14,925	3.15
	Liberal Democrats	0	0	1	1	0.00	2.92	5,013	0.01
	Independent	0	0	0	0	0.00	1.30	2,237	0.40
	UKIP	0	0	0	0	0.00	0.57	969	0.27
	TUSC	0	0	0	0	0.00	0.27	464	0.13
	Solidarity	0	0	0	0	0.00	0.22	373	0.18
	Scottish Socialist	0	0	0	0	0.00	0.12	202	0.58
	A Better Britain - Unionist Party	0	0	0	0	0.00	0.09	150	New
	SDP	0	0	0	0	0.00	0.03	51	New
	Libertarian	0	0	0	0	0.00	0.03	46	New
Turnout			171,465

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 2012. This may differ from other published sources showing gain/loss relative to seats held at dissolution of Scotland's councils.

Retiring Councillors

Ward summary

Ward results

Changes since 2017

• † Cardonald ward Labour Cllr Alistair Watson died suddenly on 29 June 2017.^[12] A by-election was held on 7 September 2017 and was won by Jim Kavanagh of the Scottish Labour Party.
• †† Linn ward SNP Cllr Glenn Elder resigned the party whip on 18 April 2019, claiming that the SNP group in Glasgow has "lost focus" and promotes a "hostile" environment.^[13]
• ††† East Centre ward SNP Cllr Russell Robertson resigned from the party on 26 April 2019, citing concerns over the leadership of the SNP and council leader Susan Aitken.^[14]
• †††† Drumchapel/Anniesland ward Labour Cllr Anne McTaggart resigned from the party on 1 November 2019, and joined the SNP.^[15]
• ††††† Garscadden/Scotstounhill Cllr Michael Cullen resigned from the SNP on 10 July 2020, after being charged with fraud after wasting police time in connection with a sexual assault allegation.^[16]
• †††††† Drumchapel/Anniesland Cllr Elspeth Kerr resigned from the SNP on 10 July 2020 after objecting to Cllr Michael Cullen's resignation from the party.^[17][16]
• ††††††† Partick East/Kelvindale ward Conservative Cllr Tony Curtis resigned from the party in July 2020 in protest for the party's lack of support for the fitness industry. He would sit as independent councillor until his disqualification on 11 January 2021. Curtis was disqualified after not attending council meetings for six months. A by-election for the seat was held on 18 March 2021.^[18][19] Labour candidate Jill Brown won the by-election.^[20]
• †††††††† Baillieston ward Labour Cllr Jim Coleman was disqualified on 28 January 2021 after failing to attend council meetings for six months. A by-election for the seat was held 18 March 2021.^[21][19] SNP candidate and former ward councillor David Turner won the seat.^[20]
• ††††††††† Shettleston ward SNP Cllr Michelle Ferns defected to the Alba Party on 29 March 2021.^[22]
• Maryhill ward SNP Cllr John Letford defected to the Alba Party on 29 April 2021.^[23]
• Partick East/Kelvindale ward Greens Cllr Martin Bartos resigned his party membership, while remaining as an independent councillor.^[24]

By-elections since 2017

References