1999 Scottish local elections

Local elections were held in Scotland on 6 May 1999, the same day as First Scottish Parliament elections. It was the second election for all 32 Scottish councils and the first after a major review into all wards.

1999 Scottish local elections

← 1995 6 May 1999 (1999-05-06) 2003 →
All 1,222 seats to Scottish councils
First party Second party   Leader Donald Dewar Alex Salmond Party Labour SNP Seats won 550 204 Seat change 63 23 Popular vote 829,921 655,299 Percentage 36.6% 28.7% Swing 7.0% 2.6%   Third party Fourth party   Leader David McLetchie Jim Wallace Party Conservative Liberal Democrats Seats won 108 156 Seat change 26 35 Popular vote 308,170 289,236 Percentage 13.5% 12.7% Swing 2.0% 2.9%
Colours denote the winning party with outright control

Boundary changes

A Major review of all boundaries took place before the 1999 elections as part of the third comprehensive review by the independent Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland ^[1] which resulted in an overall reduction of wards to 1222 instead of 1245 and many wards were restructured.^[2]

NOT a full list:

• Aberdeen Lost 7 seats
• Aberdeenshire Gained :
• Argyll & Bute Gained
• Dumfries & Galloway Lost
• Falkirk Lost 4 seats:
• Fife lost 12 seats.
• Glasgow lost 4 seats.

Results

Summary of the 1999 Scottish council election results^[3]

Parties		Votes	Votes %	Wards	Wards %	Net Gain/Loss
	Labour	829,921	36.6	550	45.0
	SNP	655,299	28.7	204	16.7
	Liberal Democrats	289,236	12.7	156	12.8
	Conservative	308,170	13.5	108	8.8
	Independent	172,297	7.5	191	16.0
	Other	30,342	1.0	9	0.7
Total		2,285,345	n/a	1222	n/a	n/a

• Voter turnout: 59.1%

Councils

Council	1995 result		Control before election (if different)	1999 result		Details
Aberdeen City		Labour			Labour	Details
Aberdeenshire		No overall control			No overall control	Details
Angus		SNP			SNP	Details
Argyll and Bute		Independent			Independent	Details
Clackmannanshire		Labour			No overall control
Dumfries and Galloway		Labour			Labour
Dundee City		Labour			No overall control	Details
East Ayrshire		Labour			Labour	Details
East Dunbartonshire		Labour	NOC		No overall control
East Lothian		Labour			Labour	Details
East Renfrewshire		No overall control			No overall control	Details
City of Edinburgh		Labour			Labour	Details
Falkirk		Labour			No overall control	Details
Fife		Labour			Labour	Details
Glasgow City		Labour			Labour	Details
Highland		Independent			Independent	Details
Inverclyde		Labour			Labour	Details
Midlothian		Labour			Labour	Details
Moray		SNP			No overall control	Details
Na h-Eileanan Siar		Independent			Independent
North Ayrshire		Labour			Labour
North Lanarkshire		Labour			Labour	Details
Orkney		Independent			Independent	Details
Perth and Kinross		SNP	NOC		No overall control
Renfrewshire		No overall control	NOC		Labour
Scottish Borders		No overall control			No overall control	Details
Shetland		Independent			Independent	Details
South Ayrshire		Labour			Labour	Details
South Lanarkshire		Labour			Labour	Details
Stirling		Labour	NOC		No overall control (Lab minority)
West Dunbartonshire		Labour			Labour	Details
West Lothian		Labour			Labour	Details

See also

• Wayback Machine Detail report into the elections
• Scottish Boundary Commission | he Boundary Commission for Scotland is responsible for reviews of UK Parliament constituencies in Scotland. Review of the Third Statutory Reviews of Electoral Arrangements which took place between 1996 and 1998.
• LGC Elections Centre More details about 1999 elections.
• BBC News | Elections | Locals 99 | | State of the Parties