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2022 East Renfrewshire Council election

The 2022 East Renfrewshire Council election took place on 5 May 2022 on the same day as the 31 other Scottish local government elections. The election used the 5 wards created under the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004, with 18 councillors being elected. Each ward elected either 3 or 4 members, using the STV electoral system.

Background

Composition

Changes since 2017

Barrhead, Liboside & Uplawmoor Conservative Cllr Paul Aitken resigned from the Scottish Conservatives and became an Independent on 22 January 2018.

Clarkston, Netherlee & Williamwood Conservative Cllr Stewart Miller resigned from the Scottish Conservatives and became an Independent on 10 September 2020.

Results

Source:

Note: Votes are the sum of first preference votes across all council wards. The net gain/loss and percentage changes relate to the result of the previous Scottish local elections on 4 May 2017. This is because STV has an element of proportionality which is not present unless multiple seats are being elected. This may differ from other published sources showing gain/loss relative to seats held at the dissolution of Scotland's councils.

Ward summary

|- class="unsortable" align="centre" ! rowspan="2" style="text-align:left;"|Ward ! % <br /> !Cllrs<br /> ! %<br /> !Cllrs<br /> ! %<br /> !Cllrs<br /> ! %<br /> !Cllrs<br /> ! %<br /> !Cllrs<br /> !rowspan=2|Total<br />Cllrs<br /> |- class="unsortable" style="text-align:center;" !colspan=2 bgcolor=""|<span style="color:black;">SNP</span> !colspan=2 bgcolor=""|<span style="color:black;">Labour</span> !colspan=2 bgcolor=""|<span style="color:black;">Conservative</span> !colspan=2 bgcolor=""|<span style="color:black;">Independent</span> ! colspan="2" style="background:white;"| <span>Others</span> |- |align="left"|Barrhead, Liboside and Uplawmoor | style="background:#efe146;"|33.4 | style="background:#efe146;"|2 |20.1 |1 |10.7 |0 |31.1 |1 |4.5 |0 |4 |- |align="left"|Newton Mearns North and Neilston |32.1 |1 |25.4 |1 | style="background:lightblue;"|34.5 | style="background:lightblue;"|1 |colspan="2" |8.0 |0 |3 |- |align="left"|Giffnock and Thornliebank | style="background:#efe146;"|26.1 | style="background:#efe146;"|1 |22.2 |1 |25.1 |1 |19.9 |0 |6.7 |0 |3 |- |align="left"|Clarkston, Netherlee and Williamwood | style="background:#efe146;"|29.0 | style="background:#efe146;"|1 |16.8 |1 |23.5 |1 |20.7 |1 |10.0 |0 |4 |- |align="left"|Newton Mearns South & Eaglesham |24.3 |1 |19.1 |1 | style="background:lightblue;"|48.9 | style="background:lightblue;"|2 |colspan="2" |7.8 |0 |4 |- class="unsortable" class="sortbottom" !align="left"| Total !28.5 !6 !20.2 !5 !29.5 !5 !14.1 !2 !7.6 !0 !18

Ward results

Barrhead, Liboside and Uplawmoor

<onlyinclude> </onlyinclude> † Greg Turner was suspended from the Conservative Party on 21 April 2022, prior to the election, after being linked to derogatory online remarks against Catholics. His name remained on the ballot paper, as the deadline for nominations had passed.

Newton Mearns North and Neilston

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Giffnock and Thornliebank

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Clarkston, Netherlee and Williamwood

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Newton Mearns South and Eaglesham

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Aftermath

After this election, a minority coalition was formed with the five Labour councillors and the two Independent councillors, David Macdonald and Danny Devlin. The SNP accused Labour of a 'backroom deal' with the Conservatives.

On 4 July 2022, Macdonald left the coalition, and the council's administration. Responding to a query on social media, he said: "The agreement I reached with the Labour group leader for my support to install a minority Labour, Independent administration was not going to be delivered. I lost trust and confidence and for that reason I could not, in good faith, continue."

In April 2024, SNP councillor Annette Ireland resigned from the SNP group and became an Independent.

Barrhead, Liboside and Uplawmoor by-election

In June 2025, Labour councillor for Barrhead, Liboside and Uplawmoor, Betty Wood Cunningham, died. A by-election was held on 21 August 2025 and was won by Labour candidate Julie Ann Costello McHale.

Source:

References