2012 East Renfrewshire Council election

The 2012 East Renfrewshire Council election took place on 3 May 2012 to elect members of East Renfrewshire Council. The election used the six wards created as a result of the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004, with each ward electing three or four Councillors using the single transferable vote system form of proportional representation, with 20 Councillors being elected.^[1]

Main article: Scottish local elections, 2012

2012 East Renfrewshire Council election

← 2007 3 May 2012 (2012-05-03) 2017 →
All 20 seats to East Renfrewshire Council 11 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Leader Jim Fletcher Jim Swift Tony Buchanan Party Labour Conservative SNP Leader's seat Giffnock and Thornliebank Newton Mearns South Neilston, Uplawmoor and Newton Mearns North Last election 7 seats, 35.0% 7 seats, 35% 3 seats, 15% Seats before 7 7 3 Seats won 8 6 4 Seat change 1 1 1 Popular vote 10,228 9,757 6,521 Percentage 31.1% 29.7% 19.8%   Fourth party Fifth party   Leader Danny Devlin Alex Mackie Party Independent Liberal Democrats Leader's seat Barrhead Giffnock and Thornliebank defeated Last election 2 seats, 10% 1 seat, 5% Seats before 2 1 Seats won 2 0 Seat change 0 1 Popular vote 4,906 1,128 Percentage 14.9% 3.4%
The 6 multi-member wards
Council Leader before election Jim Fletcher Labour Council Leader after election Jim Fletcher Labour

The election saw Labour gain 1 seat while also increasing their vote share. The Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party lost 1 seat and saw their vote share fall as they now become the second largest party on the Council. The Scottish National Party gained 1 seat to increase their numbers to 4 and remained the third largest party. Independents retained their 2 seats while the Scottish Liberal Democrats were wiped out again losing their single seat on the authority.

Following the election the Labour Party formed a Coalition with SNP and the Independent Danny Devlin. This was in effect a continuation of the previous Labour - SNP - Independent - Lib Dem coalition administration which had existed before 2012.

Election result

East Renfrewshire Local Election Result 2012

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Labour	8	1	0	+1	40.0	31.11	10,228	+3.31
	Conservative	6	0	1	-1	30.0	29.68	9,757	-4.72
	SNP	4	1	0	+1	20.0	19.84	6,521	+3.84
	Independent	2	-	-	-	10.0	14.92	4,906	+4.12
	Liberal Democrats	0	0	1	-1	0.0	3.43	1,128	-6.77
	Scottish Green	0	-	-	-	-	0.85	278	+0.25
	UKIP	0	-	-	-	-	0.17	56	New

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 2007. This may differ from other published sources showing gain/loss relative to seats held at dissolution of Scotland's councils.

Ward results

Neilston, Uplawmoor and Newton Mearns North

• 2007: 2xCon; 1xLab; 1xSNP
• 2012: 2xLab; 1xCon; 1xSNP
• 2007-2012: Lab gain one seat from Con

Neilston, Uplawmoor and Newton Mearns North - 4 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	Conservative	Charlie Gilbert (incumbent)	23.26	1,417
	SNP	Tony Buchanan (incumbent)	17.34	1,052	1,059	1,075	1,090	1,294
	Labour	Elaine Green (incumbent)	18.11	1,099	1,113	1,122	1,150	1,164	1,179	1,246
	Labour	Paul O'Kane	17.11	1,038	1,043	1,059	1,077	1,086	1,095	1,140	1,165
	Conservative	Leslie Rosin (incumbent)	10.55	640	773	784	817	827	831	901	902
	Scottish Green	Grace McCarthy	4.58	278	289	327	372	395	411
	SNP	Frank Rankin	4.10	249	252	262	272
	Liberal Democrats	Roy Provan	2.51	152	162	180
	Independent	Graham Williamson	2.34	142	148

Barrhead

• 2007: 2xLab; 1xIndependent; 1xSNP
• 2012: 2xLab; 1xIndependent; 1xSNP
• 2007-2012: No change

Barrhead - 4 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	Independent	Danny Devlin (incumbent)	28.79	1,741
	Labour	Betty Cunningham (incumbent)	23.43	1,417
	Labour	Kenny Hay	10.40	629	726	874	880	923	1,064
	SNP	Tommy Reilly	11.84	716	799	813	819	854	964
	SNP	Douglas Yates	11.84	716	776	783	787	824	927
	Independent	Eddie Phillips	7.09	429	563	574	589	692
	Conservative	Tariq Parvez	5.69	344	373	377	395
	UKIP	Sarah-Louise Hemy	0.93	56	70	72

Giffnock and Thornliebank

• 2007: 1xLab; 1xCon; 1xLib Dem
• 2012: 1xLab; 1xCon; 1xSNP
• 2007-2012: SNP gain one seat from Lib Dem

Giffnock and Thornliebank - 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3
	Labour	Jim Fletcher (incumbent)	35.53	1,935
	Conservative	Gordon Wallace (incumbent)	21.36	1,163	1,207	1,398
	SNP	Vincent Waters	19.89	1,083	1,209	1,375
	Independent	Hugh Moore	11.84	645	751	994
	Liberal Democrats	Alex Mackie (incumbent)	11.38	620	747

Netherlee, Stamperland and Williamwood

• 2007: 1xLab; 1xIndependent; 1xCon
• 2012: 1xLab; 1xIndependent; 1xCon
• 2007-2012: No change

Netherlee, Stamperland and Williamwood - 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4
	Labour	Mary Montague (incumbent)	29.79	1,528
	Independent	Ralph Robertson (incumbent)	29.10	1,493
	Conservative	Gordon McCaskill (incumbent)†	20.51	1,052	1,074	1,141	1,205
	SNP	Irene Anderson	18.19	933	1,006	1,064	1,120
	Liberal Democrats	Gordon Cochrane	2.42	124	171	198

Newton Mearns South

• 2007: 2xCon; 1xLab
• 2012: 2xCon; 1xLab
• 2007-2012: No change

Newton Mearns South - 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	Conservative	Jim Swift (incumbent)	30.23	1,448
	Conservative	Barbara Grant (incumbent)	22.99	1,101	1,186	1,200
	Labour	Ian McAlpine (incumbent)	17.10	819	825	844	844	889	1,115
	Conservative	Alistair Haw	10.23	490	626	630	632	709	819
	SNP	Frank Angell	12.67	607	613	629	629	684
	Independent	Bryson McNeil	5.07	243	250	268	268
	Liberal Democrats	Anna McCurley	1.71	82	84

Busby, Clarkston and Eaglesham

• 2007: 1xLab; 1xCon; 1xSNP
• 2012: 1xLab; 1xSNP; 1xCon
• 2007-2012: No change

Busby, Clarkston and Eaglesham - 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3
	Labour	Alan Lafferty (incumbent)	32.69	1,763
	SNP	Alastair Carmichael (incumbent)	21.60	1,165	1,275	1,336
	Conservative	Stewart Miller (incumbent)	22.68	1,223	1,260	1,301
	Conservative	Alec White	16.30	879	890	900
	Independent	George Kennedy	3.95	213	278	323
	Liberal Democrats	Ritchie Adam	2.78	150	208
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Post-Election Changes

• † Netherlee, Stamperland and Williamwood Conservative Cllr Gordon McCaskill was suspended by the party following comments he made on Twitter about Scotland's First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, and Islamic State. He has since been reinstated by the Conservative Group.

References

1. Local Election Results 2012 : East Renfrewshire, Local Elections Archive Project

Source: http://www.eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=3565