| Election Name: | 2022 West Lothian Council election |
| Type: | parliamentary |
| Ongoing: | No |
| Previous Election: | 2017 West Lothian Council election |
| Previous Year: | 2017 |
| Next Election: | 2027 West Lothian Council election |
| Next Year: | 2027 |
| Seats For Election: | All 33 seats to West Lothian Council |
| Majority Seats: | 17 |
| Leader1: | Janet Campbell |
| Party1: | Scottish National Party |
| Leaders Seat1: | Broxburn, Uphall and Winchburgh |
| Seats Before1: | 14 |
| Seat Change1: | 2 |
| Party2: | Scottish Labour |
| Leaders Seat2: | Livingston South |
| Seats Before2: | 10 |
| Seats Needed2: | 5 |
| Leader3: | Damian Timson |
| Party3: | Scottish Conservatives |
| Leaders Seat3: | East Calder and East Livingston |
| Seats Before3: | 8 |
| Seat Change3: | 3 |
| Party4: | Independent (politician) |
| Seats Before4: | 1 |
| Party5: | Scottish Liberal Democrats |
| Seats Before5: | 0 |
| Seat Change5: | 1 |
| Map2 Image: | File:Scotland West Lothian Council 2022.svg |
| Council Leader | |
| Before Election: | Lawrence Fitzpatrick |
| Before Party: | Scottish Labour |
| Posttitle: | Council Leader after election |
| After Election: | Lawrence Fitzpatrick |
| After Party: | Scottish Labour |
| Seats1: | 15 |
| Percentage1: | 37.9% |
| Popular Vote1: | 22,424 |
| Swing1: | 0.6% |
| Percentage2: | 28.6% |
| Popular Vote2: | 16,921 |
| Swing2: | 0.5% |
| Seats2: | 12 |
| Seats3: | 4 |
| Swing3: | 7.3% |
| Percentage3: | 15.9% |
| Popular Vote3: | 9,427 |
| Seats5: | 1 |
| Swing5: | 2.2% |
| Percentage5: | 4.8% |
| Popular Vote5: | 2,831 |
| Seats4: | 1 |
| Percentage4: | 6.4% |
| Popular Vote4: | 3,775 |
| Swing4: | 1.4% |
| Flag Image: | File:Coat of arms of West Lothian Council.svg |
The 2022 West Lothian Council election was held on 5 May 2022, on the same day as the 31 other local authorities in Scotland. The election used the nine wards created under the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004, with 33 Councillors elected. Each ward elects either 3 or 4 members, using the STV electoral system - a form of proportional representation.
Following the election, it was announced Labour would run the council as a minority administration with loose coalition support from the four Conservative councillors, the Independent Stuart Borrowman and Liberal Democrat, Sally Pattle.
See main article: 2017 West Lothian Council election. At the previous election in 2017, the Scottish National Party (SNP) won the most seats, forming the largest block, but were 4 seats short of a majority. Close behind the SNP were Labour, who won the next largest amount of seats, winning 12. The Conservatives won 7 seats, gaining 6 seats and increasing their vote share by 14.3%. The sole independent, Stuart Borrowman also held his seat. Following the result, the Labour and Conservative groups worked together in the chamber to hold a majority,[1] although both parties denied this claim.[2] This agreement led to Cllr Lawrence Fitzpatrick being appointed Council Leader and Conservative Cllr Tom Kerr was appointed Provost of West Lothian. However, in November 2021, SNP Councillors tabled a motion of no-confidence against Cllr Fitzpatrick's administration. The motion failed following support from the Conservatives.[3]
| SNP | 13 | 37.3% | ||
| Labour | 12 | 29.0% | ||
| Conservative | 7 | 23.2% | ||
| Independent | 1 | 5.0% |
The election used the 9 wards created following the fifth statutory review of electoral arrangements conducted by Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland in 2016, with 33 councillors elected. Each ward elected either three or four councillors, using the single transferable vote (STV) electoral system – a form of proportional representation – where candidates are ranked in order of preference.
There were two by-elections in 2021 which saw each main party field candidates. The Livingston South by-election held in March 2021 following the retirement of SNP Cllr Peter Johnston resulted in the SNP retaining the seat.[5] Meanwhile in the October 2021 East Livingston and East Calder by-election which was called following the death of Labour Cllr Dave King resulted in a gain for the SNP.[6] In the weeks following the by-election Labour Cllr Angela Doran-Timson joined the Conservatives.[7] [8]
| SNP | 13 | 14 | ||
| Labour | 12 | 10 | ||
| Conservatives | 7 | 8 | ||
| Independent | 1 | 1 |
| Party | Retiring Councillor | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Linlithgow | Conservative | Tom Kerr | ||
| SNP | David Tait | |||
| Livingston North | Labour | Dom McGuire | ||
| Fauldhouse and the Breich Valley | Labour | David Dodds | ||
| Bathgate | Labour | John McGinty | ||
| Armadale and Blackridge | SNP | Sarah King |
The total number of candidates increased from 67 in 2017 to 73. Like in 2017, the SNP stood the most candidates at 17, a decrease of 6, while Labour stood 16. The Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats, and Greens stood 9 candidates each. Unlike in 2017, the Scottish Family Party, Alba and the Independence for Scotland Party stood candidates, standing 5, 3 and 1 respectively. There were 4 independent candidates, an increase of 2.
Source:[10]
|- class="unsortable" align="centre"!rowspan=2 align="left"|Ward!%
!Cllrs
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!Cllrs
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!Cllrs
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!Cllrs
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!rowspan=2|Total
Cllrs
|- class="unsortable" align="center"!colspan=2 bgcolor="" |SNP!colspan=2 bgcolor="" |Lab!colspan=2 bgcolor="" |Green!colspan=2 bgcolor=""|Conservative!colspan=2 bgcolor="" |Lib Dem!colspan=2 bgcolor="white"|
Below is a list of seats which elected a different party or parties from 2017 in order to highlight the change in political composition of the council from the previous election. The list does not include defeated incumbents who resigned or defected from their party and subsequently failed re-election while the party held the seat.
| 2017 | 2022 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Member | Party | Member | ||||
| Linlithgow | Conservative | Tom Kerr | Liberal Democrats | Sally Pattle | |||
| Whitburn and Blackburn | Conservative | Bruce Fairbairn | SNP | Mary Robertson Dickson | |||
| Bathgate | Conservative | Charles Kennedy | SNP | Pauline Stafford | |||
Although the SNP won the most seats, Labour were chosen to run the council after doing a deal with the Conservatives. The council resembles the set up after the previous election, with Labour running a minority administration with loose coalition support from the four Conservative councillors, the Independent Stuart Borrowman and Liberal Democrat, Sally Pattle.[11]
In response to the announcement, former Labour councillor and MSP Neil Findlay, who represented Fauldhouse and the Breich Valley from 2003 to 2012, called his own party "shameful [for] voting Tories into office", saying the Conservatives were "the enemy of my class".[12]
In May 2024, independent councillor Stuart Borrowman died.[13] A by-election was held on 22 August 2024 to elect his replacement, and was won by Labour candidate Susan Manion.[14] [15] Source:[16] [17]
In September 2024, Labour councillor Kirsteen Sullivan resigned after being elected as the Member of Parliament for the Bathgate and Linlithgow constituency at the 2024 General Election.[18] A by-election has been scheduled for 14 November 2024.[19]