# 2012 Stirling Council election

The 2012 Stirling Council election was held on 3 May 2012, the same day as the 31 other local authorities in Scotland. The election used the seven wards created under the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004, with 22 councillors being elected. Each ward will elect either three or four members, using the STV electoral system.
The election saw the Scottish National Party increase their representation by 2 seats and significantly increase their vote share to become the largest party on the council. Labour and the Conservatives retained their 8 and 4 seats respectively while the Greens gained a seat on the authority. By contrast the Liberal Democrats lost all of their seats.
Following the election a coalition was formed between the Labour Party and the Conservatives which replaced the previous SNP minority administration.

## Results

2012 Stirling Council election result :
| Party | Seats | Gains | Losses | Net gain/loss | Seats % | Votes % | Votes | +/− |
| SNP | 9 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 40.9 | 37.2 | 10,626 | 8.0 |
| Labour | 8 | 2 | 2 | | 36.4 | 28.6 | 8,180 | 0.4 |
| Conservative | 4 | 0 | 0 | | 18.2 | 19.9 | 5,689 | 5.4 |
| Scottish Green | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4.6 | 5.8 | 1,658 | 4.1 |
| Liberal Democrats | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0.0 | 5.5 | 1,562 | 6.0 |
| UKIP | 0 | 0 | 0 | | 0.0 | 0.9 | 261 | 0.8 |
| Independent | 0 | 0 | 0 | | 0.0 | 1.6 | 449 | 2.1 |
Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes. The net gain/loss and percentage changes relate to the result of the previous Scottish local elections on 3 May 2007. This may differ from other published sources showing gain/loss relative to seats held at dissolution of Scotland's councils.

## Ward results
### Trossachs and Teith

* 2007: 1xSNP; 1xCon; 1xLab
* 2012: 2xSNP; 1xCon
* 2007-2012 Change: SNP gain from Lab
Trossachs and Teith – 3 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| | Conservative | Martin Earl | 30.29% | 1,285 | | | | | |
| | SNP | Alycia Hayes | 23.76% | 1,008 | 1,027.2 | 1,054.1 | 1,109.6 | | |
| | SNP | Fergus Wood (incumbent) | 21.28% | 903 | 925.7 | 947.3 | 984.3 | 1,023.6 | 1,283.2 |
| | Labour | Gerry McGarvey | 15.84% | 672 | 690.3 | 732.5 | 804.1 | 808.1 | |
| | Independent | Jack Black | 5.23% | 222 | 260.2 | 307.7 | | | |
| | Liberal Democrats | Galen Milne | 3.61% | 153 | 199.9 | | | | |
| Electorate: 8,464 Valid: 4,243 Spoilt: 72 Quota: 1,061 Turnout: 4,315 (50.13%) ||||||||||

### Forth and Endrick

* 2007: 1xLab; 1xSNP; 1xCon
* 2012: 2xSNP; 1xCon
* 2007-2012 Change: SNP gain one seat from Lab
Forth and Endrick – 3 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| | Conservative | Alistair Berrill (incumbent) | 23.58% | 1,097 | 1,128 | 1,198 | | | | |
| | SNP | Graham Lambie (incumbent) | 19.60% | 912 | 927 | 944 | 945.2 | 1,016.3 | 1,041.4 | 1,171.4 |
| | SNP | Ian Muirhead | 18.49% | 860 | 894 | 928 | 929.3 | 991.4 | 1,020.4 | 1,201.7 |
| | Labour | Alistair William Weir | 16.14% | 751 | 788 | 824 | 824.9 | 917.0 | 982.4 | |
| | Conservative | Philip Graves | 6.64% | 309 | 328 | 356 | 383.2 | 408.7 | | |
| | UKIP | Paul Henke | 5.61% | 261 | 271 | | | | | |
| | Scottish Green | Gordon Kerr Cowtan | 5.55% | 258 | 298 | 335 | 336.2 | | | |
| | Liberal Democrats | Alison McGilvray | 4.39% | 204 | | | | | | |
| Electorate: 8,464 Valid: 4,652 Spoilt: 56 Quota: 1,164 Turnout: 4,708 (48.79%) |||||||||||

### Dunblane and Bridge of Allan

* 2007: 1xSNP; 1xCon; 1xLab; 1xLib Dem
* 2012: 1xSNP; 1xCon; 1xLab; 1xGRN
* 2007-2012 Change: GRN gain one seat from Lib Dem
Dunblane and Bridge of Allan – 4 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| | SNP | Graham Houston (incumbent) | 27.31% | 1,494 | | | | |
| | Conservative | Callum Campbell (incumbent) | 23.07% | 1,262 | | | | |
| | Labour | Mike Robbins | 21.29% | 1,165 | | | | |
| | Scottish Green | Mark Ruskell | 16.63% | 910 | 951.1 | 981 | 1,006.1 | 1,251 |
| | Liberal Democrats | Gary Airnes | 6.32% | 346 | 368.4 | 427.1 | 442.4 | |
| | SNP | Ian Smith | 5.37% | 294 | 604.1 | 615.8 | 624.4 | 683.9 |
| Electorate: 12,193 Valid: 5,471 Spoilt: 76 Quota: 1,095 Turnout: 5,547 (44.87%) |||||||||

### Castle

* 2007: 1xSNP; 1xLab; 1xLib Dem
* 2012: 2xLab; 1xSNP
* 2007-2012 Change: Lab gain one seat from Lib Dem
Castle – 3 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| | SNP | Jim Thomson (incumbent) | 27.54% | 828 | | | | | | |
| | Labour | John Hendry (incumbent) | 18.89% | 568 | 570.1 | 581.2 | 606.5 | 643.2 | 673.3 | 759.8 |
| | Labour | Johanna Boyd | 17.59% | 529 | 530.6 | 544.7 | 556.5 | 588.3 | 631.3 | 748.1 |
| | Scottish Green | Zara Kitson | 10.87% | 327 | 331 | 366.5 | 409.9 | 497.3 | 575.7 | |
| | Conservative | Jennifer Gordon | 8.71% | 262 | 262.6 | 287.9 | 294.1 | 326.4 | | |
| | Independent | Steve Sankey | 7.55% | 227 | 228.8 | 250.2 | 288.1 | | | |
| | SNP | David Wilson | 4.72% | 142 | 201.7 | 207.9 | | | | |
| | Liberal Democrats | Graham Reed (incumbent) | 4.12% | 124 | 126.8 | | | | | |
| Electorate: 7,843 Valid: 3,007 Spoilt: 67 Quota: 752 Turnout: 3,074 (38.34%) |||||||||

### Stirling West

* 2007: 1xSNP; 1xLab; 1xCon
* 2012: 1xLab; 1xSNP; 1xCon
* 2007-2012 Change: No change
Stirling West – 3 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 |
| | SNP | Scott Farmer | 36.61% | 1,484 |
| | Labour | Christine Simpson | 31.01 | 1,257 |
| | Conservative | Neil Benny | 25.04 | 1,015 |
| | Liberal Democrats | Gordon Bruce | 7.35 | 298 |
| Electorate: 8,611 Valid: 4,054 Spoilt: 44 Quota: 1,014 Turnout: 4,098 (47.08%) |||||

### Stirling East

* 2007: 1xSNP; 1xLab; 1xLib Dem
* 2012: 2xLab; 1xSNP
* 2007-2012: Change: Lab gain one seat from Lib Dem
Stirling East – 3 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| | SNP | Steven Paterson (incumbent)† | 33.06 | 1,278 | | | | |
| | Labour | Corrie McChord (incumbent) | 22.30 | 862 | 925.8 | 961.6 | 992.2 | |
| | Labour | Danny Gibson | 22.19 | 858 | 892.6 | 929.1 | 957.6 | 978.3 |
| | Liberal Democrats | Ian Alexander Brown (incumbent) | 10.42 | 403 | 436.3 | 507.9 | 642 | 642.9 |
| | Conservative | Benjamin Kerr | 7.81 | 302 | 320.5 | 333.2 | | |
| | Scottish Green | Johannes Butscher | 4.22 | 163 | 224.6 | | | |
| Electorate: 8,611 Valid: 3,866 Spoilt: 77 Quota: 967 Turnout: 3,943 (41.09%) |||||||||

### Bannockburn

* 2007: 2xLab; 1xSNP
* 2012: 2xLab; 1xSNP
* 2007-2012 Change: No change
Bannockburn – 3 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| | SNP | Alasdair MacPherson (incumbent) | 37.49% | 1,236 | | | | | | |
| | Labour | Margaret Brisley (incumbent) | 34.36% | 1,133 | | | | | | |
| | Labour | Violet Weir (incumbent) | 11.68% | 385 | 409.9 | 664.7 | 671.4 | 704.6 | 766.1 | 910.1 |
| | SNP | Gerry McLaughlan | 5.67% | 187 | 516.2 | 527.3 | 531.6 | 549.9 | 596.6 | |
| | Independent | Bill McDonald | 5.0% | 165 | 181.3 | 190.8 | 203.6 | 259.6 | | |
| | Conservative | Lesley Stein | 4.76% | 157 | 160.7 | 162.3 | 170.3 | | | |
| | Liberal Democrats | David Kaufman | 1.0% | 34 | 38.2 | 44.3 | | | | |
| Electorate: 8,611 Valid: 3,297 Spoilt: 118 Quota: 825 Turnout: 3,415 (40.8%) |||||||||||

## Aftermath
### Stirling East by-election

On 7 May 2015, Stirling East SNP councillor Steven Paterson was elected as the MP for Stirling. He resigned his Council seat on 30 June 2015. A by-election was held on 1 October 2015 to fill the vacancy and the seat was held by the SNP's Gerry McLaughlan.
Stirling East By-election (1 October 2015) – 1 Seat :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| | SNP | Gerry McLaughlan | 45.2% | 1,311 | 1,367 | 1,388 |
| | Labour | Chris Kane | 37.7% | 1,094 | 1,134 | 1,272 |
| | Conservative | Luke Davison | 11.8% | 343 | 352 | |
| | Scottish Green | Alasdair Tollemache | 5.2% | 152 | | |
| Electorate: 10,460 Valid: 2,900 Spoilt: 28 Quota: 1,451 Turnout: 2,928 |||||||