| Election Name: | 2007 Scottish local elections |
| Country: | Scotland |
| Type: | parliamentary |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 2003 Scottish local elections |
| Previous Year: | 2003 |
| Next Election: | 2012 Scottish local elections |
| Next Year: | 2012 |
| Seats For Election: | All 1,222 seats to Scottish councils |
| 3Blank: | Swing (pp) |
| Turnout: | 52.8% (3.2%)[1] |
| Leader1: | Alex Salmond |
| Leader Since1: | 3 September 2004 |
| Party1: | Scottish National Party |
| Last Election1: | 181 seats, 24.1% |
| Seats1: | 363 |
| Seat Change1: | 182 |
| 1Data1: | 585,885 |
| 2Data1: | 27.9% |
| 3Data1: | 3.8% |
| Leader2: | Jack McConnell |
| Leader Since2: | 22 November 2001 |
| Party2: | Scottish Labour |
| Last Election2: | 509 seats, 32.6% |
| Seats2: | 348 |
| Seat Change2: | 161 |
| 1Data2: | 590,085 |
| 2Data2: | 28.1% |
| 3Data2: | 4.5% |
| Party5: | Scottish Conservatives |
| Last Election5: | 122 seats, 15.1% |
| Seats5: | 143 |
| Seat Change5: | 21 |
| 1Data5: | 327,591 |
| 2Data5: | 15.6% |
| 3Data5: | 0.5% |
| Leader4: | Nicol Stephen |
| Leader Since4: | 27 June 2005 |
| Party4: | Scottish Liberal Democrats |
| Last Election4: | 175 seats, 14.5% |
| Seats4: | 166 |
| Seat Change4: | 9 |
| 1Data4: | 266,693 |
| 2Data4: | 12.7% |
| 3Data4: | 1.8% |
| Map2 Image: | Scottish local elections 2007 (largest party).svg |
| Map2 Size: | 250px |
| Map2 Caption: | Colours denote the party with the most seats |
| Map3 Image: | Scottish local elections, 2007 (Ward results).svg |
| Map3 Size: | 250px |
| Map3 Caption: | Colours denote the party with largest share of first preference votes by ward |
The 2007 Scottish local elections were held on 3 May 2007, the same day as Scottish Parliament elections and local elections in parts of England. All 32 Scottish councils had all their seats up for election – all Scottish councils are unitary authorities.
This was the first election for local government in Great Britain to use the Single Transferable Vote (the system is used in Northern Ireland), as implemented by the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004. The new electoral system resulted in most councils being under no overall control, a situation in which no single political group achieves a majority of seats.[2]
Scanners supplied by DRS Data Services Limited of Milton Keynes, in partnership with Electoral Reform Services (ERS), the trading arm of the Electoral Reform Society, were used to electronically count the paper ballots in both the Scottish council elections and the Scottish Parliament general election.[3] [4]
Because of the fiasco in 2007 of holding parliamentary (Holyrood) and local elections simultaneously, the following Scottish local elections were held in 2012 instead of 2011.
The Labour party lost control of all but two of its councils, Glasgow and North Lanarkshire, but received the largest number of votes, while the SNP were the main beneficiaries of the new voting system, picking over 180 new seats. The Scottish Greens elected their first-ever councillors, winning eight seats.[5] [6]
|- style="background-color:#E9E9E9;! scope="col" colspan="2" rowspan=2 | Party! scope="col" colspan="3" | First-preference votes! scope="col" colspan="2" | Councils! scope="col" colspan="2" | 2003 seats! scope="col" colspan="3" | 2007 seats|-! scope="col" | Count! scope="col" | Of total (%)! scope="col" | Change! scope="col" | Count! scope="col" | Change! scope="col" | Count! scope="col" | Of total (%)! scope="col" | Count! scope="col" | Of total (%)! scope="col" | Change|-| style="background-color:"|| style="text-align:left;" |No overall control| colspan=3 | 27| style="background-color:#dfd;"| 20| colspan=2 | colspan=3 |-| | 590,085| 28.1| 4.5%| 2| | colspan=2 | 348| 28.5%| style="background-color:#ffe8e8;"| 161|-| | 585,885| 27.9| 3.8%| 1| | colspan=2 | 363| 29.7%| style="background-color:#dfd;"| 182|-| | 327,591| 15.6| 0.5%| 2| | colspan=2 | 143| 11.7%| style="background-color:#dfd;"| 21|-| | 266,693| 12.7| 1.8%| 0| | colspan=2 | 166| 13.6%| style="background-color:#ffe8e8;"| 9|-| | 228,894| 10.9| 0.8%| 0| | colspan=2 | 192| 15.7%| 38|-| style="width: 10px" style="background-color:" || style="text-align: left;" scope="row" | Other| 102,897| 4.9| 1.3%| 0| | colspan=2 | 10| 0.8%| 6|-|- class=sortbottom style="background-color:#E9E9E9; font-weight:bold;"! colspan="2" style="text-align:left;" | Total| 2,099,945| 100.0| ±0.0| 32| | 1,222| 1,222| 1,222| 100.00| |}
The notional results in the following table are based on a document that John Curtice and Stephen Herbert (Professors at the University of Strathclyde) produced on 3 June 2005, calculating the effect of the introduction of the Single Transferable Vote on the 2003 Scottish local elections.[7]
| Council | 2003 result | Notional control (based on 2003 results) | 2007 result | Details | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aberdeen City | (LD + Con) | NOC | (LD + SNP) | Details | ||
| Aberdeenshire | (LD + Ind) | NOC | (LD + Con) | Details | ||
| Angus | NOC | (Ind + Con + LD + Lab) | Details | |||
| Argyll and Bute | Independent | (Ind + SNP) | Details | |||
| Clackmannanshire | NOC | (Lab minority) | Details | |||
| Dumfries and Galloway | (Lab minority) | NOC | (Con + LD) | Details | ||
| Dundee City | (Lab + LD+ Con) | NOC | (Lab + LD+ Con) | Details | ||
| East Ayrshire | Labour | (SNP minority) | Details | |||
| East Dunbartonshire | (LD minority) | NOC | (Lab + Con) | Details | ||
| East Lothian | NOC | (SNP + LD) | Details | |||
| East Renfrewshire | (Lab + LD) | NOC | (Lab + LD + Ind + Con) | Details | ||
| City of Edinburgh | (Lab minority) | NOC | (LD + SNP) | Details | ||
| Falkirk | (SNP + Ind + Con) | NOC | (Lab + Ind + Con) | Details | ||
| Fife | (Lab minority) | NOC | (LD + SNP) | Details | ||
| Glasgow City | Labour | Details | ||||
| Highland | Independent | (Ind + SNP) | Details | |||
| Inverclyde | NOC | (Lab minority) | Details | |||
| Midlothian | NOC | (Lab minority) | Details | |||
| Moray | Independent | (Ind + Con) | Details | |||
| Na h-Eileanan Siar | Independent | Details | ||||
| North Ayrshire | Labour | (Lab minority) | Details | |||
| North Lanarkshire | Labour | Details | ||||
| Orkney | Independent | Details | ||||
| Perth and Kinross | (SNP + LD + Ind) | NOC | (SNP + LD) | Details | ||
| Renfrewshire | NOC | (SNP + LD) | Details | |||
| Scottish Borders | (Ind + Con) | NOC | (Ind + Con + LD) | Details | ||
| Shetland | Independent | Details | ||||
| South Ayrshire | (Con minority) | NOC | (Con minority) | Details | ||
| South Lanarkshire | Labour | (Lab minority) | Details | |||
| Stirling | (Lab minority) | NOC | (Lab minority) | Details | ||
| West Dunbartonshire | Labour | (SNP + Ind) | Details | |||
| West Lothian | NOC | (SNP + Ind) | Details | |||