Elections to Midlothian Council were held on 3 May 2007, the same day as the other Scottish local government elections and the Scottish Parliament general election. The election was the first one using six new wards created as a result of the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004. Each ward will elect three or four councillors using the single transferable vote system form of proportional representation. The new wards replace 18 single-member wards which used the plurality (first past the post) system of election.[1]
 | ||
| ||
All 18 seats to Midlothian Council 10 seats needed for a majority | ||
|---|---|---|
|
| ||
Labour lost control of the council to no overall control, something which the party suffered in many other parts of Scotland. However, they regained control in 2008 when Cllr Katie Moffat defected from the Liberal Democrats to Labour.[2] Overall, Labour lost six seats and the single independent lost their seat, with most going to the Scottish National Party as well as a single gain for the Liberal Democrats.
Election results
edit| Party | Seats | Gains | Losses | Net gain/loss | Seats % | Votes % | Votes | +/− | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labour | 9 | N/A | N/A | –6 | 50.0 | 36.8 | 12,559 | ||
| SNP | 6 | N/A | N/A | +6 | 33.3 | 33.4 | 11,406 | ||
| Liberal Democrats | 3 | N/A | N/A | +1 | 16.7 | 12.7 | 4,331 | ||
| Conservative | 0 | N/A | N/A | ±0 | 0.0 | 10.1 | 3,443 | ||
| Scottish Green | 0 | N/A | N/A | ±0 | 0.0 | 1.9 | 650 | ||
| Scottish Socialist | 0 | N/A | N/A | ±0 | 0.0 | 1.5 | 511 | ||
| Solidarity | 0 | N/A | N/A | ±0 | 0.0 | 1.4 | 494 | ||
| Had Enough | 0 | N/A | N/A | ±0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 105 | ||
| Independent | 0 | N/A | N/A | –1 | 0.0 | 2.0 | 667 | ||
Ward results
edit| Party | Candidate | FPv% | % | Seat | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SNP | Margaret Wilson | 2,307 | 34.7 | 1 | 1 | |
| Labour | Adam Montgomery | 1,554 | 23.3 | 2 | 4 | |
| Liberal Democrats | Ken Brown | 1,001 | 15.0 | 3 | 7 | |
| Liberal Democrats | Shiela Thacker | 974 | 14.6 | |||
| Conservative | Sandy Forrest | 694 | 10.4 | |||
| Solidarity | Jackie Moyers | 64 | 1.0 | |||
| Scottish Socialist | Norman Gilfillan | 62 | 0.9 | |||
| Party | Candidate | FPv% | % | Seat | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SNP | Bob Constable | 1,905 | 30.3 | 1 | 1 | |
| Labour | Jack Aitchison†† | 1,530 | 24.4 | 2 | 2 | |
| Labour | Derek Milligan | 1,383 | 22.0 | 3 | 7 | |
| Scottish Green | Ian Baxter | 650 | 10.4 | |||
| Conservative | John Stoddart | 600 | 9.6 | |||
| Scottish Socialist | Neil Bennet | 138 | 2.2 | |||
| Solidarity | Chris Moyers | 71 | 1.1 | |||
| Party | Candidate | FPv% | % | Seat | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SNP | Craig Statham | 1,333 | 29.9 | 1 | 1 | |
| Labour | Alex Bennett††† | 1,331 | 29.9 | 2 | 1 | |
| Labour | Margot Russell | 761 | 17.1 | 3 | 7 | |
| Liberal Democrats | Ray Prior | 657 | 14.8 | |||
| Conservative | Rosemary McDougall | 217 | 4.9 | |||
| Solidarity | Alan Boyce | 94 | 2.1 | |||
| Scottish Socialist | Bob Goupillot | 60 | 1.3 | |||
| Party | Candidate | FPv% | % | Seat | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SNP | Owen Thompson | 1,981 | 33.2 | 1 | 1 | |
| Labour | Russell Imrie | 1,506 | 25.2 | 2 | 1 | |
| Liberal Democrats | Les Thacker | 868 | 14.5 | 3 | 10 | |
| Conservative | Andrew Hardie | 634 | 10.6 | |||
| Independent | Elizabeth Veitch | 259 | 4.3 | |||
| Independent | George Purcell | 220 | 3.7 | |||
| Independent | Pat Kenny | 188 | 3.2 | |||
| Scottish Socialist | Lynn Leitch | 108 | 1.8 | |||
| Had Enough | George McCleery | 105 | 1.8 | |||
| Solidarity | Brian Cranston | 99 | 1.7 | |||
| Party | Candidate | FPv% | % | Seat | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SNP | Lisa Beattie | 1,988 | 34.6 | 1 | 1 | |
| Labour | Peter Boyes | 1,357 | 23.6 | 2 | 4 | |
| Liberal Democrats | Katie Moffat† | 831 | 14.5 | 3 | 7 | |
| Conservative | Robin Traquair | 812 | 14.1 | |||
| Labour | Bob Jenkins | 617 | 10.7 | |||
| Solidarity | Derek Duncan | 82 | 1.4 | |||
| Scottish Socialist | Murray Court | 63 | 1.1 | |||
| Party | Candidate | FPv% | % | Seat | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SNP | Colin Beattie | 1,892 | 37.4 | 1 | 1 | |
| Labour | Wilma Chalmers | 1,336 | 26.4 | 2 | 1 | |
| Labour | James Muirhead | 1,184 | 23.4 | 3 | 2 | |
| Conservative | Peter Smaill | 486 | 9.6 | |||
| Solidarity | Willie Duncan | 84 | 1.7 | |||
| Scottish Socialist | John Carroll | 80 | 1.6 | |||
Changes since 2007 election
edit- † On 3 June 2008, Midlothian East Cllr Katie Moffat defected from the Liberal Democrats to the Labour Party.
- †† On 29 March 2012, Bonnyrigg Cllr Jack Aitchison resigned from the Labour Party and now sits as an Independent.
- ††† On 5 April 2012, Dalkeith Cllr Alex Bennett formally resigned from the council to secure his Local Government pension.
References
edit- ^ "Midlothian Election Results 2007". midlothian.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 8 June 2008.
- ^ "Lib Dem councillor defects to Labour in Midlothian". labourmatters.com. 3 June 2008. Archived from the original on 13 July 2011. Retrieved 13 April 2009.