# 2022 Inverclyde Council election

The 2022 Inverclyde Council election took place on 5 May 2022, as part of the 2022 Scottish local elections on the same day as the 31 other Scottish local authorities were up for election. The election used the 7 wards created under the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004, last changed in 2017, with 22 councillors being elected. Each ward elected either 3 or 4 members, using the STV electoral system.
At the previous election in 2017, the Labour Party won the most seats and formed a minority administration. The same happened at this election in 2022, with Stephen McCabe continuing as leader of the council after the election.

## Background
### Retiring councillors

| Ward | Party | Retiring councillor |
| Inverclyde West | Independent | Ronald Ahlfeld |
| Inverclyde North | Labour | Martin Brennan |
| Inverclyde South West | Labour | Gerry Dorrian |
| Inverclyde South West | Liberal Democrats | Ciano Rebecchi |

## Results

2022 Inverclyde Council election result :
| Party | Seats | Gains | Losses | Net gain/loss | Seats % | Votes % | Votes | +/− |
| Labour | 9 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 40.9 | 32.5 | 7,491 | 5.6 |
| SNP | 8 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 36.4 | 37.7 | 8,694 | 4.9 |
| Independent | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 13.6 | 15.0 | 3,455 | 1.7 |
| Conservative | 2 | 0 | 0 | | 9.0 | 10.3 | 2,372 | 7.3 |
| Liberal Democrats | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0.0 | 3.2 | 734 | 2.7 |
| Alba | 0 | 0 | 0 | | 0.0 | 1.5 | 342 | New |
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 5 May 2017. This may differ from other published sources showing gain/loss relative to seats held at dissolution of council.

### Inverclyde East

* 2017: 1xCon; 1xSNP; 1xLab
* 2022: 1xCon; 1xSNP; 1xLab
* 2017-2022: Unchanged.
Inverclyde East - 3 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 |
| | SNP | Christopher Curley (incumbent) | | Unopposed |
| | Labour | Stephen McCabe (incumbent) | | Unopposed |
| | Conservative | David Wilson (incumbent) | | Unopposed |
| Quota: ||||

### Inverclyde East Central

Inverclyde East Central - 3 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| | Labour | Robert Moran (incumbent) | 31.5 | 1,016 | | | | |
| | SNP | Kirsty Law | 22.3 | 720 | 738.51 | 747.75 | 761.36 | 1,301.91 |
| | SNP | Jim MacLeod (incumbent) | 19.6 | 633 | 657.48 | 669.92 | 682.56 | |
| | Independent | Drew McKenzie (incumbent) | 16.8 | 543 | 603.48 | 615.18 | 718.08 | 843.69 |
| | Conservative | James Kelly | 8.6 | 277 | 296.95 | 300.46 | | |
| | Alba | Louise Williams | 1.2 | 38 | 45.82 | | | |
| Electorate: 8,065 Valid: 3,227 Spoilt: 69 Quota: 807 Turnout: 40.9% |||||||||

### Inverclyde Central

Inverclyde Central - 3 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| | SNP | Pam Armstrong | 34.2 | 968 | | | | |
| | Labour | Michael McCormick (incumbent) | 26.6 | 753 | | | | |
| | Labour | Colin Jackson (incumbent) | 21.2 | 599 | 617.26 | 651.09 | 675.42 | 782.88 |
| | SNP | Agnes McAuley | 8.2 | 231 | 450.44 | 452.03 | 509.05 | 516.11 |
| | Conservative | Ian Bryson | 6.0 | 169 | 170.07 | 171.09 | 176.36 | |
| | Alba | Jim McEleny (incumbent) | 3.8 | 108 | 115.79 | 117.82 | | |
| Electorate: 7,787 Valid: 2,828 Spoilt: 108 Quota: 708 Turnout: 2,936 (37.7%) |||||||||

### Inverclyde North

Inverclyde North - 4 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
| | Labour | Francesca Brennan | 25.5 | 1,284 | | | | | | | |
| | SNP | Elizabeth Robertson (incumbent) | 22.3 | 1,122 | | | | | | | |
| | Conservative | Graeme Brooks (incumbent) | 15.1 | 761 | 787.77 | 789.08 | 791.4 | 800.40 | 886.52 | 995.77 | 1,018 |
| | SNP | Jenn Scott-McClafferty | 12.0 | 606 | 615.64 | 713.63 | 738.14 | 744.36 | 766.40 | 826.21 | |
| | Labour | Jim Clocherty (incumbent) | 10.4 | 526 | 716.4 | 719.52 | 728.94 | 733.46 | 799.36 | 862.95 | 1,138.36 |
| | Liberal Democrats | Jacci Stoyle | 6.2 | 312 | 323.34 | 325.06 | 330.06 | 336.92 | | | |
| | Independent | Gillian Maxwell | 5.7 | 285 | 295.92 | 298.94 | 309.57 | 347.98 | | | |
| | Independent | John Davidson * | 1.5 | 75 | 77.1 | 78.51 | 85.82 | | | | |
| | Alba | Philomena Donnachie | 1.4 | 70 | 71.5 | 73.32 | 74.3 | | | | |
| Electorate: 10,353 Valid: 5,041 Spoilt: 128 Quota: 1,009 Turnout: 5,169 (49.9%) ||||||||||||
* = Running under The Pensioner's Party

### Inverclyde West

Inverclyde West - 3 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 |
| | Independent | Lynne Quinn (incumbent) | 30.2 | 1,440 |
| | SNP | Sandra Reynolds | 26.6 | 1,271 |
| | Labour | Martin McCluskey | 26.1 | 1,247 |
| | Conservative | Ted Runciman | 9.5 | 453 |
| | Liberal Democrats | John Burleigh | 3.6 | 171 |
| | Alba | Christopher McEleny (incumbent) | 2.6 | 126 |
| | Independent | William Wilson | 1.4 | 66 |
| Electorate: 8,773 Valid: 4,774 Quota: 1,194 Turnout: 4,804 (54.8%) |||||

### Inverclyde South West

Inverclyde South West - 3 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| | SNP | James Daisley | 29.7 | 1,206 | | | | | |
| | Labour | Paul Cassidy | 28.9 | 1,175 | | | | | |
| | SNP | Innes Nelson (incumbent) | 14.9 | 606 | 755.66 | 774.88 | 815.79 | 925.97 | 1,057.69 |
| | Conservative | Lisa Dallas | 12.5 | 507 | 510.15 | 540.6 | 632.83 | 727.67 | |
| | Independent | Paul Travers | 7.8 | 316 | 326.56 | 343.87 | 411.97 | | |
| | Liberal Democrats | Alasdair Higgins | 6.2 | 251 | 259.82 | 306.77 | | | |
| Electorate: 9,531 Valid: 4,061 Spoilt: 59 Quota: 1,016 Turnout: 4,120 (43.2%.) ||||||||||

### Inverclyde South

Inverclyde South - 3 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| | SNP | John Crowther (incumbent) | 30.8 | 972 | | | |
| | Labour | Natasha McGuire (incumbent, (elected in 2017 as Natasha Murphy)) | 28.2 | 891 | | | |
| | Independent | Tommy McVey (incumbent) | 23.1 | 730 | 743.12 | 777.91 | 915.99 |
| | SNP | Irene McLeod | 11.4 | 359 | 506.55 | 521.51 | 528.05 |
| | Conservative | Georgina Halfnight | 6.5 | 205 | 207.25 | 220.06 | |
| Electorate: 7,877 Valid: 3,157 Spoilt: 62 Quota: 790 Turnout: 3,219 (40.9%) ||||||||

## Aftermath

On 17 May 2022, Labour announced that it had secured enough support from independent councillors to form a new minority administration. Council Leader Stephen McCabe said: "I am delighted that after a week of discussions and negotiations with the other groups on the council I have been able to secure sufficient cross-group support for Inverclyde Labour to lead the next administration." Also, as part of the deal, Drew McKenzie became Inverclyde Council's first Independent Provost, with all previous Provosts being either Labour or Lib Dem councillors.

### Inverclyde West by-election

On 3 September 2024, Labour councillor Martin McCluskey announced that he was resigning as a councillor after being elected as the Member of Parliament for the Inverclyde and Renfrewshire West constituency at the 2024 United Kingdom general election. A by-election has been scheduled for 7 November 2024. The by-election was won by the Labour candidate Ian Hellyer.
Inverclyde West by-election (7 November 2024) - 1 seat :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| | Labour | Ian Hellyer | 34.0 | 932 | 961 | 999 | 1,165 | 1,568 |
| | SNP | Robert Kirkpatrick | 33.7 | 923 | 939 | 1,050 | 1,082 |
| | Conservative | Ted Runciman | 15.2 | 415 | 485 | 515 |
| | Alba | Christopher McEleny | 8.7 | 239 | 258 |
| | Reform UK | John Burleigh | 8.4 | 230 |
| Electorate: 8,775 Valid: 2,739 Spoilt: 19 Quota: 1,370 Turnout: 31.4% |||||||||