2022 Moray Council election

2022 Moray Council election

← 2017 5 May 2022 (2022-05-05) 2027 →
All 26 seats to Moray Council 14 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Leader Tim Eagle (not running for re-election) Graham Leadbitter & Shona Morrison John Divers Party Conservative SNP Labour Leader's seat Buckie Elgin South & Fochabers Lhanbryde Elgin South Last election 8 seats, 36.1% 9 seats, 31.6% 1 seats, 4.3% Seats before 9 7 1 Seats won 11 8 3 Seat change 3 1 2   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Various Lisa Mead & Fabio Villani Party Independent Scottish Green Liberal Democrats Leader's seat Various Did not contest Last election 8 seats, 24.1% 0 seats, 2.6% 0 seats, 1.2% Seats before 8[a] 0 0 Seats won 2 1 1 Seat change 6 1 1
Council Leader before election Graham Leadbitter[1] SNP Council Leader after election Neil McLennan & Kathleen Robertson Conservative

The 2022 election to Moray Council took place on 5 May 2022, on the same day as the 31 other local authorities in Scotland. The election used the eight wards created under the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004, with 26 Councillors elected. Each ward elects either 3 or 4 members, using the STV electoral system.

On 18 May 2022, it was announced that the council would be run by a minority Conservative group, alongside two Independents.^[2]

2017 results

2017 Moray Council election

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	SNP	9	0	1	1	34.6	31.6	10,518	7.8
	Conservative	8	5	0	5	30.8	36.1	12,010	18.6
	Independent	8	0	2	2	30.8	24.1	8,022	4.8
	Labour	1	0	2	2	3.8	4.3	1,438	4.9
	Scottish Green	0	0	0	0	0.0	2.6	853	0.2
	Liberal Democrats	0	0	0	0	0.0	1.2	410	0.6

Results

2022 Moray Council election

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Conservative	11	3	0	+3	42.31	36.24	10,698
	SNP	8	0	1	-1	30.77	35.95	10,613
	Labour	3	2	0	+2	11.54	12.33	3,641
	Independent	2	0	6	-6	7.69	7.88	2,327
	Liberal Democrats	1	1	0	+1	3.85	3.80	1,121
	Scottish Green	1	1	0	+1	3.85	3.39	1,001
	Scottish Family	0	0	0	0	0.00	0.34	99	New
	Sovereignty	0	0	0	0	0.00	0.08	23	New

Results of the 2022 Moray Council election
by ward

Ward	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	Total Cllrs
	SNP		Lab		Conservative		Green		Lib Dem		Others
Speyside Glenlivet	36.77	1			33.83	1	8.57	0			20.83	1	3
Keith and Cullen	43.50	1			43.68	2			9.94	0	2.88	0	3
Buckie		1				1				1			3
Fochabers Lhanbryde	42.99	1	10.11	1	39.79	1							3
Heldon and Laich	29.48	1	7.68	0	39.71	2			4.62	0	18.52	1	3
Elgin City North	32.60	1	28.49	1	25.88	1	4.49	0	3.92	0	4.62	0	3
Elgin City South	35.55	1	28.11	1	26.83	1			3.05	0	6.45	0	4
Forres	34.29	1	10.62	0	40.91	2	9.1	1			5.10	0	4
Total													26

Ward results

The incumbent councillors for each ward as of March 2022 are listed below.^[3] Any changes from the councillors elected in the 2017 Moray Council election are also noted. Candidates for the upcoming election were confirmed on 30 March 2022.^[4]

Speyside Glenlivet

Incumbent councillors:

• Derek Ross,
  Independent
• Walter Wilson,
  Independent (elected as Conservative
  )
• Louise Laing, Scottish National Party

Speyside Glenlivet - 3 seats^[5]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3
	SNP	Juli Harris	36.77%	1,227
	Conservative	David Gordon	33.83%	1,129
	Independent	Derek Ross (incumbent)	20.14%	672	750.3	897.7
	Scottish Green	Elidh Myrvang Brown	8.57%	286	491.7	519.6
	Sovereignty	David Philip McHutchon	0.69%	23	30.7	50.5
Electorate: 7,382   Valid: 3,374   Spoilt: 37   Quota: 835   Turnout: 45.7%

Keith and Cullen

Incumbent councillors:

• Donald Gatt, Scottish Conservatives
• Theresa Coull, Scottish National Party
• Laura Powell,
  Independent
  ) in November 2019.

Keith and Cullen - 3 seats<

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3
	SNP	Theresa Coull (incumbent)	43.5%	1,493
	Conservative	Donald Gatt (incumbent)	24.7%	849	884.25
	Conservative	Tracy Colyer	18.9%	650	673.8	693.6	732.61	955.35
	Liberal Democrats	Leslie Tarr	9.9%	341	589.4	591.8	674.21
	Scottish Family	William Barclay	2.9%	99	178.0	178.4
Electorate: TBC   Valid: 3,432   Spoilt: 37   Quota: 859   Turnout: 45.7%

Buckie

Incumbent councillors:

• Tim Eagle, Scottish Conservatives
• Gordon Cowie,
  Independent
  )
• Sonya Warren, Scottish National Party

Candidates (uncontested):

Candidate	Party
Neil McLennan		Conservative
Christopher Thomas Price		Liberal Democrat
Sonya Warren (incumbent)		SNP

Fochabers Lhanbryde

Incumbent councillors:

• Marc Macrae, Scottish Conservatives
• Shona Morrison, Scottish National Party
• David Bremner, Scottish National Party

Fochabers Lhanbryde - 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5
	Conservative	Marc Macrae (incumbent)	39.7%	1,590
	SNP	Shona Morrison (incumbent)	23.5%	940	959.2	1005.3
	SNP	David Bremner (incumbent)	19.4%	778	791.7	811.8	816.3
	Labour	Ben Williams	10.1%	404	534.6	830.5	830.8	1,178.2
	Liberal Democrats	Donald Cameron	7.0%	284	496.2
Electorate: TBC   Valid: 3,996   Spoilt: 68   Quota: 1,000   Turnout: 4,064

Heldon and Laich

Incumbent councillors:

• James Allan, Scottish Conservatives
• Amy Patience, Scottish National Party
• John Cowe,
  Independent
• Ryan Edwards,
  Independent

Heldon and Laich - 4 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	SNP	Neil Cameron	29.5%	1,455
	Conservative	James Allan (incumbent)	27.0%	1,331
	Independent	John Cowe (incumbent)	18.5%	914	1,045.28
	Conservative	Bridget Mustard	12.7%	629	639.27	885.17	898.46	946.96	1,150.32
	Labour	Andrew O'Neill	7.7%	404	489.1	511.77	526.23	725.25
	Liberal Democrats	Calum Cameron	4.6%	228	307.28	326.35	337.06
Electorate: TBC   Valid: 4,936   Spoilt: 60   Quota: 988   Turnout: 4,996

Elgin City North

Incumbent councillors:

• Frank Brown, Scottish Conservatives
• Maria McLean,
  Independent
  ) in July 2017.
• Vacancy. Paula Coy Scottish National Party was elected in 2017.

Elgin City North - 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1
	SNP	Jérémie Fernandes	32.6%	1,199
	Labour	Sandy Keith	28.5%	1,048
	Conservative	Amber Dunbar	25.9%	952
	Independent	Graham Jarvis	4.6%	170
	Scottish Green	Rebecca Kail	4.5%	165
	Liberal Democrats	Neil Alexander	3.9%	144
Electorate: TBC   Valid: 3,678   Spoilt: 32   Quota: 920   Turnout: 3,710

Elgin City South

Incumbent councillors:

• Ray McLean, Scottish Conservatives
• John Divers, Scottish Labour
• Graham Leadbitter, Scottish National Party

Elgin City South - 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1
	SNP	Graham Leadbitter (incumbent)	35.5%	1,444
	Labour	John Divers (incumbent)	28.1%	1,142
	Conservative	Peter Bloomfield	26.8%	1,090
	Independent	Michaela French	4.0%	161
	Liberal Democrats	Bernard Salmon	3.1%	124
	Independent	Paul Briggs	2.5%	101
Electorate: TBC   Valid: 4,062   Spoilt: 51   Quota: 1,016   Turnout: 4,113

Forres

Incumbent councillors:

• Claire Feaver, Scottish Conservatives
• Aaron McLean, Scottish National Party
• George Alexander,
  Independent
  )
• Lorna Creswell,
  Independent
  )

Forres - 4 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	SNP	Scott Lawrence	34.3%	2,077
	Conservative	Kathleen Robertson	25.0%	1,516
	Conservative	Paul McBain	15.9%	962	991.15	1,239.8
	Labour	James Hynam	10.6%	643	830	844.63	851.77	1,001.43
	Scottish Green	Draeyk Van der Horn	9.1%	550	927.73	932.54	933.97	1,047.49	1,513.51
	Independent	Shaun Moat	5.1%	309	403.12	416.76	423.85
Electorate: TBC   Valid: 6,128   Spoilt: 71   Quota: 1,212   Turnout: 6,057

Footnotes

Changes since 2022

By-elections since 2022

3 November 2022

Buckie - 1 seat

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4
	SNP	John Stuart	48.9%	1,172	1,181	1,192	1,269
	Conservative	Tim Eagle	36.7%	879	884	904	989
	Labour	Keighley Goldie	10.0%	239	247	276
	Liberal Democrats	Les Tarr	2.8%	67	78
	Independent	Neil Houlden	1.6%	38
Electorate: 8,139   Valid: 2,395   Spoilt: 13   Quota: 1,199   Turnout: 2,408 (29.6%)

References