| Election Name: | 2022 West Lothian Council election |
| Type: | parliamentary |
| Ongoing: | No |
| Previous Election: | 2017 West Lothian Council election |
| Previous Year: | 2017 |
| Next Election: | 2027 West Lothian Council election |
| Next Year: | 2027 |
| Seats For Election: | All 33 seats to West Lothian Council |
| Majority Seats: | 17 |
| Leader1: | Janet Campbell |
| Party1: | Scottish National Party |
| Leaders Seat1: | Broxburn, Uphall and Winchburgh |
| Seats Before1: | 13 |
| Seat Change1: | 2 |
| Party2: | Scottish Labour |
| Leaders Seat2: | Livingston South |
| Seats Before2: | 12 |
| Seats Needed2: | 5 |
| Leader3: | Damian Timson |
| Party3: | Scottish Conservatives |
| Leaders Seat3: | East Calder and East Livingston |
| Seats Before3: | 7 |
| Seat Change3: | 3 |
| Party4: | Independent (politician) |
| Seats Before4: | 1 |
| Party5: | Scottish Liberal Democrats |
| Seats Before5: | 0 |
| Seat Change5: | 1 |
| Map2 Image: | File:Scotland West Lothian Council 2022.svg |
| Council Leader | |
| Before Election: | Lawrence Fitzpatrick |
| Before Party: | Scottish Labour |
| Posttitle: | Council Leader after election |
| After Election: | Lawrence Fitzpatrick |
| After Party: | Scottish Labour |
| Seats1: | 15 |
| Percentage1: | 37.9% |
| Popular Vote1: | 22,424 |
| Swing1: | 0.6% |
| Percentage2: | 28.6% |
| Popular Vote2: | 16,921 |
| Swing2: | 0.5% |
| Seats2: | 12 |
| Seats3: | 4 |
| Swing3: | 7.3% |
| Percentage3: | 15.9% |
| Popular Vote3: | 9,427 |
| Seats5: | 1 |
| Swing5: | 2.2% |
| Percentage5: | 4.8% |
| Popular Vote5: | 2,831 |
| Seats4: | 1 |
| Percentage4: | 6.4% |
| Popular Vote4: | 3,775 |
| Swing4: | 1.4% |
The 2022 West Lothian Council election took place on 5 May 2022. Elected positions in all 9 wards created as a result of the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004 were up for election, with each ward electing three or four Councillors using the single transferable vote (STV) system form of proportional representation, with 33 Councillors being elected in total.
See main article: 2017 West Lothian Council election.
| SNP | 13 | 37.3% | |
| Labour | 12 | 29.0% | |
| Conservative | 7 | 23.2% | |
| Independent | 1 | 5.0% |
Following the 2017 West Lothian Council election, the Labour and Conservative groups worked together in the chamber to hold a majority,[2] although both parties denied this claim.[3] This agreement led to Cllr Lawrence Fitzpatrick being appointed Council Leader and Conservative Cllr Tom Kerr was appointed Provost of West Lothian.
There were two by-elections in 2021 which saw each main party field candidates. The Livingston South by-election held in March 2021 following the retirement of SNP Cllr Peter Johnston resulted in the SNP retaining the seat.[4] Meanwhile in the October 2021 East Livingston and East Calder by-election which was called following the death of Labour Cllr Dave King resulted in a gain for the SNP.[5] In the weeks following the by-election Labour Cllr Angela Doran-Timson joined the Conservatives.[6] [7]
In November 2021, SNP Councillors tabled a motion of no-confidence against Cllr Fitzpatrick's administration. The motion failed following support from the Conservatives.[8]
| Councillor | Ward | Party | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tom Kerr | Linlithgow | Conservative | ||
| David Tait | Linlithgow | SNP | ||
| Dom McGuire | Livingston North | Labour | ||
| David Dodds | Fauldhouse and the Breich Valley | Labour | ||
| John McGinty | Bathgate | Labour | ||
| Sarah King | Armadale and Blackridge | SNP | ||
SNP Councillor Frank Anderson was deselected by his party. He announced that he would stand as an Independent candidate in East Livingston and East Calder.[9]
| Party | No. of candidates | Change (from 2017) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SNP | 17 | 6 | ||
| Labour | 16 | 0 | ||
| Conservative | 9 | 0 | ||
| Liberal Democrats | 9 | 0 | ||
| Green | 9 | 1 | ||
| Family | 5 | 5 | ||
| Independent | 4 | 2 | ||
| Alba | 3 | 3 | ||
| ISP | 1 | 1 | ||
Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes. The net gain/loss and percentage changes relate to the result of the previous Scottish local elections in 2017. This may differ from other published sources showing gain/loss relative to seats held at dissolution of Scotland's councils.
|- class="unsortable" align="centre"!rowspan=2 align="left"|Ward!%
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|- class="unsortable" align="center"!colspan=2 bgcolor="" |SNP!colspan=2 bgcolor="" |Lab!colspan=2 bgcolor="" |Green!colspan=2 bgcolor=""|Conservative!colspan=2 bgcolor="" |Lib Dem!colspan=2 bgcolor="white"|
Although the SNP won the most seats, Labour were chosen to run the council after doing a deal with the Conservatives. The council resembles the set up after the previous election, with Labour running a minority administration with loose coalition support from the four Conservative councillors, the Independent Stuart Borrowman and Liberal Democrat, Sally Pattle.[10]
In response to the announcement, former Labour councillor and MSP Neil Findlay, who represented Fauldhouse and the Breich Valley from 2003 to 2012, called his own party "shameful [for] voting Tories into office", saying the Conservatives were "the enemy of my class".[11]