| Election Name: | 1992 Scottish local elections |
| Country: | Scotland |
| Type: | parliamentary |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 1990 Scottish regional elections |
| Previous Year: | 1990 |
| Next Election: | 1994 Scottish regional elections |
| Next Year: | 1994 |
| Leader1: | Neil Kinnock |
| Leader Since1: | 2 October 1983 |
| Party1: | Labour Party (UK) |
| Percentage1: | 34.0% |
| Seats1: | 468 |
| Seat Change1: | 85 |
| Leader2: | John Major |
| Leader Since2: | 28 November 1990 |
| Party2: | Scottish Conservatives |
| Seats2: | 204 |
| Seat Change2: | 42 |
| Percentage2: | 23.2% |
| Swing2: | 3.8% |
| Leader4: | Alex Salmond |
| Leader Since4: | 22 September 1990 |
| Party4: | Scottish National Party |
| Percentage4: | 24.3% |
| Seats4: | 150 |
| Seat Change4: | 37 |
| Leader5: | Jim Wallace |
| Leader Since5: | 18 April 1992 |
| Party5: | Scottish Liberal Democrats |
| Seats5: | 94 |
| Seat Change5: | 10 |
| Percentage5: | 9.5% |
| Swing5: | 0.1% |
| Map Size: | 350px |
Local elections were held in Scotland on 7 May 1992, to elect members to all 53 district councils. It was the last local election held under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, which had established the two-tier system of regions and districts. Regional and district councils were abolished in 1996, and replaced with 29 new mainland unitary authorities under the terms of the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994.
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.
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.
Labour held most of their strongholds in the central belt, as well as Dundee and Aberdeen; even though their vote share decreased more in these areas (Such as East Lothian, down 13% from 1988 and Glasgow, down 11.8%) than elsewhere. The Conservatives were most successful in places were they hadn't stood many (if any) candidates before, such as Clackmannan (where the party only stood two candidates in 1988). Independents remained the largest party in rural areas, while the Liberal Democrats held their two councils of North East Fife and Annandale and Eskdale.[1]
|-!colspan=3|Votes Total!Votes %!Seats|-| |504,076|34.0|468|-| |360,014|24.3|150|-| |343,358|23.2|204|-| |140,697|9.5|94|-| |107,586|7.4|228|-| style="width: 10px" bgcolor=|| style="text-align: left;" scope="row" | Other|26,057|1.9|14|-!colspan=2|Total! 1,481,788!n/a !1158|}
| District | 1988 result | 1992 result | Turnout | Details | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Berwickshire | Details | |||||
| Ettrick and Lauderdale | Details | |||||
| Roxburgh | Details | |||||
| Tweeddale | Details | |||||
| District | 1988 result | 1992 result | Turnout | Details | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clackmannan | Details | |||||
| Falkirk | ||||||
| Stirling | Details | |||||
| District | 1988 result | 1992 result | Turnout | Details | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Annandale and Eskdale | Details | |||||
| Wigtown | Details | |||||
| Nithsdale | ||||||
| Stewartry | ||||||
| District | 1988 result | 1992 result | Turnout | Details | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Banff and Buchan | Details | |||||
| City of Aberdeen | Details | |||||
| Gordon | ||||||
| Kincardine and Deeside | ||||||
| Moray | Details | |||||
| District | 1988 result | 1992 result | Turnout | Details | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Badenoch and Strathspey | Details | |||||
| Caithness | Details | |||||
| Inverness | Details | |||||
| Lochaber | Details | |||||
| Nairn | Details | |||||
| Ross and Cromarty | Details | |||||
| Skye and Lochalsh | Details | |||||
| Sutherland | Details | |||||
| District | 1988 result | 1992 result | Turnout | Details | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| City of Edinburgh | Details | |||||
| East Lothian | Details | |||||
| Midlothian | Details | |||||
| West Lothian | Details | |||||
| District | 1988 result | 1992 result | Turnout | Details | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Angus | Details | |||||
| City of Dundee | Details | |||||
| Perth and Kinross | Details | |||||