# 2017 Clackmannanshire Council election

The Clackmannanshire Council election of 2017 was held on 4 May 2017, on the same day as the 31 other local authorities in Scotland. It was the third successive election to run under the STV electoral system and used the five wards created under the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004, with 18 councillors being elected.

## Result

As Scottish Labour lost three seats and the Scottish National Party held all of theirs, the SNP became the largest party for the first time. The Scottish Conservatives unexpectedly won a seat in every ward, equalling their representation on the council with that of Labour.
During the first meeting of the new council on 18 May, however, an agreement was not reached on how to form an administration. In June 2017 a minority SNP administration was formed.
2017 Clackmannanshire Council election result :
| Party | Seats | Gains | Losses | Net gain/loss | Seats % | Votes % | Votes | +/− |
| SNP | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 44.4 | 37.1 | 6,525 | -8.8 |
| Labour | 5 | 0 | 3 | -3 | 27.8 | 27.8 | 4,887 | -10.3 |
| Conservative | 5 | 4 | 0 | +4 | 27.8 | 24.9 | 4,382 | +15.1 |
| Scottish Green | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 6.5 | 1,141 | New |
| Liberal Democrats | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 3.1 | 553 | +2.3 |
| Independent | 0 | 0 | 1 | -1 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 85 | -4.6 |
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 2012. This may differ from other published sources showing gain/loss relative to seats held at dissolution of Scotland's councils.

## Ward results
### Clackmannanshire West

* 2012-2017 Change: 1 Lab loss and 1 Con gain
Clackmannanshire West – 4 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| | Conservative | Darren Lee | 21.4 | 808 | | | | | |
| | Labour | George Matchett (incumbent) | 19.9 | 753 | 763 | | | | |
| | SNP | Tina Margaret Murphy (incumbent) | 18.6 | 704 | 705 | 705 | 717 | 722 | 766 |
| | SNP | Les Sharp (incumbent) | 17.8 | 675 | 675 | 676 | 680 | 701 | 751 |
| | Labour | Craig Miller | 12.6 | 478 | 482 | 488 | 505 | 541 | 590 |
| | Scottish Green | Cara Quinn | 4.2 | 159 | 161 | 161 | 177 | 215 | |
| | Liberal Democrats | Jim Hay | 2.9 | 112 | 122 | 122 | 142 | | |
| | Independent | Thomas Joshua Harrison | 2.2 | 85 | 91 | 91 | | | |
| Electorate: 8,726 Valid: 3,774 Spoilt: 97 Quota: 755 Turnout: 3,871 (44.36%) ||||||||||

### Clackmannanshire North

* 2012-2017 Change: 1 Independent loss and 1 Con gain
Clackmannanshire North – 4 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| | Conservative | Martha Benny | 24.0 | 969 | | | | |
| | SNP | Archie Drummond (incumbent)† | 16.6 | 672 | 675 | 709 | 745 | 909 |
| | SNP | Donald Balsille (incumbent) | 16.3 | 660 | 666 | 690 | 711 | 841 |
| | Labour | Dave Clark (incumbent) | 15.9 | 644 | 678 | 698 | 764 | 773 |
| | Labour | Bobby McGill (incumbent) | 10.7 | 432 | 446 | 453 | 507 | 513 |
| | SNP | Helen Lewis | 7.2 | 292 | 293 | 313 | 323 | |
| | Liberal Democrats | Damian Sherwood-Johnson | 5.1 | 206 | 240 | 283 | | |
| | Scottish Green | Jack Gervaise | 3.8 | 157 | 167 | | | |
| Electorate: 8,371 Valid: 4,032 Spoilt: 127 Quota: 807 Turnout: 4,159 (49.68%) |||||||||

### Clackmannanshire Central

* 2012-2017 Change: 1 Lab Loss; 1 Con Gain
Clackmannanshire Central – 3 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| | Labour | Derek Stewart (incumbent) | 32.8 | 846 | | | | |
| | SNP | Phil Fairlie††† | 27.7 | 714 | | | | |
| | Conservative | Mike Watson | 16.6 | 428 | 443 | 444 | 464 | 550 |
| | SNP | Jo Wilkinson | 10.5 | 273 | 281 | 337 | 393 | 438 |
| | Labour | Graham Watt (incumbent) | 7.1 | 183 | 321 | 324 | 356 | |
| | Scottish Green | John Short | 5.1 | 133 | 139 | 143 | | |
| Electorate: 6,297 Valid: 2,577 Spoilt: 79 Quota: 645 Turnout: 2,656 (42.18%) |||||||||

### Clackmannanshire South

* 2012-2017 Change: 1 Con Gain from Lab
Clackmannanshire South – 4 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| | SNP | Craig Holden (incumbent) | 22.4 | 831 | | | | |
| | Conservative | Chris Dixon†† | 19.6 | 725 | 726 | 759 | | |
| | SNP | Ellen Forson (incumbent) | 17.5 | 649 | 716 | 721 | 721 | 730 |
| | Labour | Kenneth Earle (incumbent) | 17.3 | 640 | 644 | 660 | 665 | 817 |
| | Scottish Green | Bryan Quinn | 15.1 | 560 | 569 | 583 | 587 | 601 |
| | Labour | Christine Sinclair | 5.5 | 205 | 207 | 212 | 214 | |
| | Liberal Democrats | John Shier Biggam | 2.2 | 84 | 84 | | | |
| Electorate: 8,976 Valid: 3,694 Spoilt: 86 Quota: 739 Turnout: 3,780 (42.11%) |||||||||

### Clackmannanshire East

* 2012-2017 Change: None
Clackmannanshire East – 3 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| | Conservative | Bill Mason†††† | 41.0 | 1,452 | | | |
| | Labour | Kathleen Martin (incumbent) | 19.9 | 706 | 839 | 868 | 882 |
| | SNP | Graham Lindsay | 19.5 | 692 | 699 | 724 | 1,079 |
| | Liberal Democrats | Anne Anderson | 4.3 | 151 | 345 | 406 | 414 |
| | SNP | Jane McTaggart | 10.3 | 363 | 368 | 390 | |
| | Scottish Green | Marion Robertson | 3.7 | 132 | 160 | | |
| Electorate: 6,607 Valid: 3496 Spoilt: 40 Quota: 875 Turnout: 3,536 (53.52%) ||||||||

## Changes since 2017

* † Clackmannanshire North SNP Cllr Archie Drummond resigned his seat for personal reasons in late December 2017. A by-election was held on 1 March 2018 and the seat was retained by the party's Helen Lewis.
* ††Clackmannanshire South Cllr Chris Dixon on 7 March 2018 resigned from the Scottish Conservative Party on health reasons and now sits as an independent councillor.
* ††† Clackmannanshire Central SNP Cllr Phil Fairlie resigned his seat due to personal and professional reasons. A by-election was held on 18 March 2019. The seat was retained by Jane McTaggart of the SNP.
* †††† Clackmannanshire East Conservative Cllr Bill Mason resigned his seat due to ill-health on 31 December 2019. This by-election was scheduled for 19 March but was deferred due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Scotland until 19 November 2020, when it was retained by Denis Coyne of the Scottish Conservative Party.

## By-elections since 2017

Clackmannanshire North By-election (1 March 2018) :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| | SNP | Helen Lewis | 36.8 | 769 | 795 | 818 | 980 | 1,128 |
| | Conservative | Alex Stewart | 31.5 | 658 | 661 | 693 | 784 | |
| | Labour | Afifa Khanam | 23.6 | 493 | 513 | 538 | | |
| | Liberal Democrats | Damian Sherwood-Johnson | 4.0 | 84 | 101 | | | |
| | Scottish Green | Marion Robertson | 3.5 | 74 | | | | |
| Electorate: 8,457 Valid: 2,078 Spoilt: 14 Quota: 1,040 Turnout: 2,092 (24.7%) |||||||||
Clackmannanshire Central By-election (28 March 2019) :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| | SNP | Jane McTaggart | 40.9 | 865 | 872 | 888 | 902 | 933 | 1,166 |
| | Labour | Margaret Brookes | 31.9 | 675 | 684 | 696 | 702 | 814 | |
| | Conservative | William Marlin | 19.8 | 419 | 423 | 433 | 447 | | |
| | UKIP | Dawson Michie | 3.3 | 69 | 70 | 74 | | | |
| | Scottish Green | Marion Robertson | 2.5 | 53 | 60 | | | | |
| | Liberal Democrats | John Biggam | 1.7 | 36 | | | | | |
| Electorate: 6,184 Valid: 2,117 Spoilt: 29 Quota: 1,059 Turnout: (34.7%) ||||||||||
Clackmannanshire East By-election (19 November 2020) :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 |
| | Conservative | Denis Coyne | 51.2 | 1,226 |
| | SNP | Stephen Leitch | 32.0 | 766 |
| | Labour | Carolynne Hunter | 8.1 | 195 |
| | Scottish Green | Marion Robertson | 5.8 | 139 |
| | Liberal Democrats | Jim Hay | 2.9 | 69 |
| Valid: 2,395 Quota: 1,197 |||||