1992 Scottish local elections

1992 Scottish local elections

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First party Second party   Leader Neil Kinnock John Major Party Labour Conservative Leader since 2 October 1983 28 November 1990 Seats won 468 204 Seat change 85 42 Percentage 34.0% 23.2%   Third party Fourth party   Leader Alex Salmond Jim Wallace Party SNP Liberal Democrats Leader since 22 September 1990 18 April 1992 Seats won 150 94 Seat change 37 10 Percentage 24.3% 9.5%

Colours denote the winning party with outright control

There was some speculation that these elections would be the last under the present two-tier system, as a review of council areas had been announced by the incumbent Conservative Government (The last elections were in fact the 1994 regional elections). The elections were seen as a test of the Conservative Government elected a month before in April, where the Conservatives had increased their vote share, much to the surprise of pollsters.

Outcome

The election saw a decrease in turnout of more than 5%, the lowest since District Council elections were introduced in 1974. The number of women candidates increased to 26.7%, although only 21.5% of elected councillors were women, showing that the main parties often preferred to nominate men in wards where they had a better chance of winning. Labour saw a sharp fall on their vote share, down 8.5% from 1988. The main beneficiaries of this decline were the Conservatives, up 3.8%, but still in third place behind the SNP, who gained 3.0%. The Liberal Democrats also made modest gains, taking a new record of 95 seats.

Regional Trends

Labour held most of their strongholds in the central belt, as well as