2022 South Ayrshire Council election

← 2017 5 May 2022 (2022-05-05) 2027 →
All 28 seats to South Ayrshire Council 15 seats needed for a majority
Registered	92,112
Turnout	49.7%
First party Second party   Leader Martin Dowey Peter Heanderson Party Conservative SNP Leader's seat Ayr West Girvan and South Carrick Last election 12 seats, 43.4% 9 seats, 30.2% Seats before 11 9 Seats won 10 9 Seat change 2 Popular vote 14,520 14,838 Percentage 33.3% 34.1% Swing 10.1% 3.9%   Third party Fourth party   Leader Brian McGinley N/A Party Labour Independent Leader's seat Ayr East N/A Last election 5 seats, 15.2% 2 seats, 10.7% Seats before 5 3 Seats won 5 4 Seat change 2 Popular vote 7,276 5,313 Percentage 16.7% 12.2% Swing 1.5% 1.5%
Council Leader before election Peter Heanderson SNP Council Leader after election Martin Dowey Conservative

Elections to South Ayrshire Council took place on 5 May 2022 on the same day as the 31 other Scottish local government elections. The election used the eight wards created following the Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland's fifth review, with 28 councillors elected. Each ward elected either three or four members, using the STV electoral system.

Despite shedding almost a quarter of their vote, the Conservatives retained their position as the largest party returning 10 councillors - two less than in the previous election. Both the Scottish National Party (SNP) and Labour made no gains or losses to remain as the second and third parties respectively. The number of independents returned increased from two to four.

Following the election the Conservatives formed a minority administration, replacing the previous SNP-Labour-Independent administration which was formed as a result of the previous election in 2017.

Background

Previous election

At the previous election in 2017, the Conservatives won the most seats returning 12 councillors. The Scottish National Party (SNP) maintained their position as the second-largest party while boundary changes saw Labour lose out as they lost four seats to return five councillors. Two independents were also returned.^[1]

Composition

There was one change to the composition of the council following the previous election in 2017. Conservative councillor Hugh Hunter was de-selected in the run-up to the 2022 elections and resigned from the party to stand as an independent.^[2][3]

Retiring Councillors

Candidates

The total number of candidates increased from 45 in 2017 to 61 mainly due to the increased number of parties contesting the election. Unlike the previous vote, the Conservatives fielded the highest number of candidates at 19 – seven more than they had in 2017. Both the SNP and Labour also fielded at least one candidate in every ward but the 13 candidates fielded by the SNP and the eight fielded by Labour was one less than in 2017. The Liberal Democrats named six candidates in this election after fielding none in South Ayrshire in 2017. The number of independent candidates increased from nine in 2017 to 10 but the Greens did not contest the election as they did five years previous. Both the Scottish Family Party and the Alba Party fielded their first ever candidates in a South Ayrshire election.^[4]

Results

2022 South Ayrshire Council election

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Conservative	10	0	2	2	35.7	33.3	14,520	10.1
	SNP	9	0	0		32.1	34.1	14,838	3.9
	Labour	5	0	0		17.8	16.7	7,276	1.5
	Independent	4	2	0	2	14.2	12.2	5,313	1.5
	Liberal Democrats	0	0	0		0	2.6	1,158	New
	Alba	0	0	0		0	0.6	275	New
	Scottish Family	0	0	0		0	0.2	108	New
Total		28						43,488

Ward summary

Ward results

Troon

The Conservatives (2), the SNP (1) and Labour (1) retained the seats they won at the previous election.

Source: ^[5][6]

Prestwick

The Conservatives held one of the two seats they won at the previous election and lost one to independent candidate Hugh Hunter while the SNP and Labour retained the seats they had won at the previous election. In 2017, Hugh Hunter was elected as a Conservative candidate.

Source: ^[7][8]

Ayr North

The SNP (2), Labour (1) and the Conservatives (1) retained the seats they had won at the previous election.

Source: ^[9][10]

Ayr East

The SNP, Labour and the Conservatives retained the seats they won at the previous election.

Source: ^[11][12]

Ayr West

The Conservatives retained two of the three seats they won at the previous election and lost one to independent candidate Bob Shields while the SNP retained their only seat.

Source: ^[13][14]

Kyle

The SNP, Labour and the Conservatives retained the seats they won at the previous election.

Source: ^[15][16]

Maybole, North Carrick and Coylton

The SNP, the Conservatives and independent candidate Brian Connolly retained the seats they won at the previous election.

Source: ^[17][18]

Girvan and South Carrick

Independent candidate Alec Clark, the SNP and the Conservatives held the seats they won at the previous election.

Source: ^[19][20]

Aftermath

It had initially been expected that the ruling SNP-Labour-Independent administration would continue to run the council however discussions broke down between the parties amid claims of a "political stitch-up" from Labour. As a result, the SNP planned to run the council as a minority administration on a "collaboration and consensus basis".^[21] However, the Conservative group formed a minority administration and took control of the council.^[22]