2022 Scottish Borders Council election

Main article: 2022 Scottish local elections

2022 Elections to Scottish Borders Council were held on 5 May 2022, the same day as the other Scottish local elections.

2022 Scottish Borders Council election

← 2017 5 May 2022 (2022-05-05) 2022 →
All 34 seats to Scottish Borders Council 18 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   CON SNP IND Leader Euan Jardine Elaine Thornton-Nicol David Parker Party Conservative SNP Independent Leader's seat Galashiels and District Selkirkshire Leaderdale and Melrose Last election 15 9 8 Seats before 15 9 8 Seats after 14 9 7 Seat change 1 0 1 Popular vote 13,992 9,475 10,912 Percentage 31.0% 21.0% 24.2% Swing 10.6% 0.4% 0.4%   Fourth party Fifth party   LD GRN Party Liberal Democrats Scottish Green Last election 2 0 Seats before 2 0 Seats after 3 1 Seat change 1 1 Popular vote 4,416 3,627 Percentage 9.8% 8.0% Swing 1.6% 5.8%
Council Leader before election Mark Rowley Conservative Council Leader after election Euan Jardine Conservative

The Scottish Greens won their first ever seat on the council.^[1]

Following the election, an administration was formed with the Conservatives and Independent Councillors Caroline Cochrane, Stuart Marshall, and Watson McAteer.

Conservative Councillors Euan Jardine from Galashiels & District, and Scott Hamilton from Jedburgh & District, were elected as Leader and Deputy Leader of the Council respectively.^[2][3] Independent Councillor Watson McAteer was elected as Convener.^[2]

Results

2022 Scottish Borders Council election result

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Conservative	14	0	1	1	41.2	31.0	13,992	10.6
	SNP	9	0	0	0	26.5	21.0	9,475	0.4
	Independent	7	0	1	1	20.6	24.2	10,912	0.4
	Liberal Democrats	3	1	0	1	8.82	9.8	4,416	1.6
	Scottish Green	1	1	0	1	2.9	8.0	3,627	5.8
	Labour	0	0	0	0	0.0	5.2	2,345	3.4
	Scottish Family	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.4	179	New
	Alba	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.1	53	New
	Vanguard Party	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.2	74	New
	Scottish Eco Federalist Party	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.05	24	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 4 May 2017. This may differ from other published sources showing gain/loss relative to seats held at dissolution of Scotland's councils.

Ward results

Source:^[4]

Tweeddale West

• 2017: 1xLib Dem; 1xCon; 1xSNP
• 2022: 1xLib Dem; 1xCon; 1xSNP
• 2017-2022 Change: No Change

Tweeddale West - 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5
	SNP	Viv Thomson	26.2	1,266
	Liberal Democrats	Drummond Begg	22.8	1,100	1,107.8	1,257.6
	Conservative	Eric Small	18.5	893	894.3	915.4	926.6	1,338.5
	Scottish Green	Dominic Ashmole	16.4	792	829.3	905.3	926.8	947.3
	Conservative	John Smith	9.7	466	466.4	472.4	476.2
	Labour	Julia Reid	6.5	312	316.4
Electorate: 8,517   Valid: 4,829   Spoilt: 58   Quota: 1,208   Turnout: 57.4%

Tweeddale East

• 2017: 1xCon; 1xSNP; 1xInd
• 2022: 1xSNP; 1xCon; 1xInd
• 2017-2022 Change: No Change

Tweeddale East - 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5
	SNP	Marshall Douglas	30.3	1,485
	Conservative	Julie Pirone	22.5	1,102	1,106.7	1,107.7	1,148.6	1,253.3
	Independent	Robin Tatler	18.3	896	929.9	933.6	1,031.7	1,293.7
	Liberal Democrats	David Pye	9.9	483	506.2	507.2	649.1
	Scottish Green	Ellie Clarke	9.6	469	604.7	607	718.3
	Labour	Robert Bon	9.2	449	481.2	482.2
	Vanguard	Calum Watt	0.2	11	11.9
Electorate: 9,117   Valid: 4,895   Spoilt: 24   Quota: 1,224   Turnout: 54.0%

Galashiels and District

• 2017: 1xSNP; 1xCon; 2xIndependent
• 2022: 1xSNP; 1xCon; 1xLib Dem, 1XGrn
• 2017-2022 Change: Lib Dem and Green gain one seat each from Independents.

Galashiels and District - 4 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	SNP	Fay Sinclair	35.9	1,637
	Conservative	Euan Jardine (incumbent)	26.4	1,205
	Liberal Democrats	Hannah Steel	10.6	483	581.8	658.6	662.8	667.1	697.1	777.4	995.6
	Scottish Green	Neil MacKinnon	9.0	412	786.2	796.7	809.9	814.8	855.9	889.8	984.4
	Independent	Bill White	6.9	315	364.6	415.9	416.2	426.6	508.9	706.3
	Independent	Harry Scott	5.4	246	272.6	314.6	318.8	321.3	398.6
	Independent	Duck Frater	4.4	199	230.0	252.9	257.5	272.5
	Vanguard	Michael Banks	0.8	36	43.5	47.9	49.8
	Scottish Eco Federalist Party	James Clark	0.5	24	30.2	32.9
Electorate: 11,639   Valid: 4,557   Spoilt: 43   Quota: 912   Turnout: 39.5%

Selkirkshire

• 2017: 1xCon; 1xSNP; 1xIndependent
• 2022: 1xIndependent; 1xCon; 1xSNP;
• 2017-2022 Change: Independent (Cochrane) gains from Independent (Edgar).

Selkirkshire - 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4
	Independent	Caroline Cochrane	35.5	1,423
	Conservative	Leagh Douglas	26.2	1,049
	SNP	Elaine Thornton-Nicol (incumbent)	21.8	873	943.7	945.1	1,073.2
	Labour	Scott Redpath	5.6	223	280.7	286.7	336.6
	Scottish Green	Barbra Harvie	5.5	222	266.1	268.2
	Independent	Gordon Edgar (incumbent)	5.4	217	310.2	327.3	371.7
Electorate: 8,018   Valid: 4,007   Spoilt: 34   Quota: 1,002   Turnout: 50.4%

Leaderdale and Melrose

• 2017: 1xIndependent; 1xCon; 1xSNP
• 2022: 1xIndependent; 1xCon; 1xSNP
• 2017-2022 Change: No Change

Leaderdale and Melrose - 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	Independent	David Parker (incumbent)	34.3	1,594
	Conservative	Jenny Linehan	24.4	1,133	1,241.4
	SNP	John Paton-Day	19.7	918	1,003.4	1,004.4	1,006.2	1,111.2	1,180.1
	Liberal Democrats	Simon Johnson	12.7	589	686.9	718.7	724.4	791.8	905.9
	Labour	Michael Scott	4.5	207	240.3	247.0	250.2	284.3
	Scottish Green	Michael Needham	4.3	199	227.7	229.4	231.4
	Vanguard	Chris Stefanek	0.2	10	14.6	16.8
Electorate: 9,107   Valid: 4,650   Spoilt: 40   Quota: 1,163   Turnout: 51.5%

Mid Berwickshire

• 2017: 2xCon; 1xSNP
• 2022: 2xCon; 1xSNP
• 2017-2022 Change: No change

Mid Berwickshire - 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	Conservative	John Greenwell (incumbent)	29.0	1,213
	SNP	Donald Moffat (incumbent)	25.8	1,079
	Conservative	Mark Rowley (incumbent)	17.1	715	842.8	844.3	891.1	919.3	942.4	1,162.9
	Liberal Democrats	Yvonne Huggins-Haig	11.5	479	491.3	496.5	519.4	620.9	829.6
	Scottish Green	Gail Jackson	6.9	292	294.8	309.3	328.1	396.7
	Labour	David Smith	6.1	254	259.1	264.1	272.3
	Scottish Family	Hamish Goldie-Scot	3.5	146	148.4	149.6
Electorate: 8,817   Valid: 4,178   Spoilt: 81   Quota: 1,045   Turnout: 48.3%

East Berwickshire

• 2017: 2 x Conservative; 1 x SNP
• 2022: 1 x Conservative; 1x SNP; 1 x Independent
• 2017-2022 Change: 1 x Independent gain from Conservative

East Berwickshire - 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	Conservative	Carol Hamilton (incumbent)	31.3	1,328
	SNP	Aileen Orr	21.2	899	901.2	904.2	995.2	1,078.8
	Independent	James Anderson	13.3	562	572.7	576.7	604.7	668.9	672.7	913.7	1,123.7
	Independent	Raquel Lloyd-Jones	10.9	466	483.6	487.8	525.4	615.8	620.9
	Conservative	Lynda Jones	9.7	409	624.5	632.3	643.3	666.3	666.9	757.9
	Labour	Paul Stirton	6.9	296	299.8	300.8	355.2
	Scottish Green	Peter Guthrie	5.8	245	248.0	249.2
	Scottish Family	Edward Prentice	0.8	33	35.0
Electorate: 9,029   Valid: 4,238   Spoilt: 49   Quota: 1,060   Turnout: 47.5%

Kelso and District

• 2017: 2 x Conservative, 1 x Liberal Democrat
• 2022: 2 x Conservative, 1 x Liberal Democrat
• 2017-2022 Change: No Change

Kelso and District - 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	Liberal Democrats	Euan Robson (incumbent)	29.8	1,169
	Conservative	Tom Weatherston (incumbent)	24.0	942	987.7
	Conservative	Simon Mountford (incumbent)	23.1	904	926.8	932.2	932.2	937.1	973.8	1,111.3
	Scottish Green	Shelagh King	13.2	518	560.9	561.1	564.6	575.2	736.2
	Labour	Wilson George	7.7	301	331.2	331.4	336.7	392.3
	Labour	Kenryck Lloyd-Jones	1.8	69	81.7	81.8	82.3
	Vanguard	Sunny Smith	0.4	17	19.3	19.3
Electorate: 8,499   Valid: 3,920   Spoilt: 70   Quota: 981   Turnout: 46.9%

Jedburgh and District

• 2017: 2 x Conservative, 1 x SNP
• 2022: 2 x Conservative, 1 x SNP
• 2017-2022 Change: No change

Jedburgh and District - 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	Conservative	Scott Hamilton (incumbent)	31.1	1,089
	SNP	Pam Brown	23.1	809	814.3	829.5	840.5	930.5
	Conservative	Sandy Scott (incumbent)	19.2	675	823.5	827.9	840.4	858.4	860.8	1,076.9
	Independent	John Bathgate	15.1	529	558.0	564.8	614.9	706.3	726.9
	Scottish Green	Charles Strang	7.1	250	254.5	261.5	273.9
	Independent	Jesse Rae	2.9	102	106.5	110.7
	Alba	Yvonne Ridley	1.5	53	55.5
Electorate: 7,212   Valid: 3,507   Spoilt: 53   Quota: 877   Turnout: 49.4%

Hawick and Denholm

• 2017: 1 x Independent; 1 x Conservative, 1 x SNP
• 2022: 2 x Independent; 1 x Conservative
• 2017-2022 Change: 1 x Independent gain from SNP

Hawick and Denholm - 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	Independent	Stuart Marshall (incumbent)	69.2	2,265
	Independent	Clair Ramage (incumbent)*	9.7	316	899.9
	Conservative	Neil Richards (incumbent)	9.4	309	441.2	451.3	465.9	541.4	680.2
	Scottish Green	Catriona Hamilton	4.5	147	224.3	242.4	312.5	375.8
	Labour	Kay Hughes	3.7	120	188.9	197.9
	Independent	Trevor Adams	3.5	114	232.8	253.3	291.8
Electorate: 7,173   Valid: 3,271   Spoilt: 30   Quota: 818   Turnout: 46.0%

• Clair Ramage was elected as an SNP Councillor in the 2017 election for Hawick & Denholm

Hawick and Hermitage

• 2017: 2 x Independent; 1 x Conservative
• 2022: 1 x Independent; 1 x Conservative; 1 x SNP
• 2017-2022 Change: 1 x SNP gain from Independent

Hawick and Hermitage - 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	Independent	Watson McAteer (incumbent)	48.5	1,477
	Conservative	Jane Cox	18.4	560	674.2	681.2	692.2	732.4	904.1
	SNP	Annette Smart	16.7	509	565.2	607.9	638.3	671.6	765.4
	Independent	Cameron Knox	6.3	191	522.6	534.4	555.7	601.2
	Labour	Robert Leach	3.7	114	131.4	148.9
	Liberal Democrats	Rosemary Webster	3.7	113	153.2	162.6	202.4
	Scottish Green	Kevin Ferguson	2.7	81	101.8
Electorate: 7,070   Valid: 3,045   Spoilt: 32   Quota: 762   Turnout: 43.5%

References

1. "Scottish election results 2022: First Green for Scottish Borders Council". BBC News. 6 May 2022. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
2. "Agenda for Scottish Borders Council on Thursday, 19th May, 2022, 10.00 am". scottishborders.moderngov.co.uk. 19 May 2022. Retrieved 18 June 2022.
3. "Agenda for Scottish Borders Council on Thursday, 26th May, 2022, 10.00 am". scottishborders.moderngov.co.uk. 26 May 2022. Retrieved 18 June 2022.
4. Council, Scottish Borders. "2022 Local Government Election information | Scottish Borders Council". www.scotborders.gov.uk.