# 2012 East Renfrewshire Council election

The 2012 East Renfrewshire Council election took place on 3 May 2012 to elect members of East Renfrewshire Council. The election used the six wards created as a result of the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004, with each ward electing three or four Councillors using the single transferable vote system form of proportional representation, with 20 Councillors being elected.
The election saw Labour gain 1 seat while also increasing their vote share. The Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party lost 1 seat and saw their vote share fall as they now become the second largest party on the Council. The Scottish National Party gained 1 seat to increase their numbers to 4 and remained the third largest party. Independents retained their 2 seats while the Scottish Liberal Democrats were wiped out again losing their single seat on the authority.
Following the election the Labour Party formed a Coalition with SNP and the Independent Danny Devlin. This was in effect a continuation of the previous Labour - SNP - Independent - Lib Dem coalition administration which had existed before 2012.

## Election result

East Renfrewshire Local Election Result 2012 :
| Party | Seats | Gains | Losses | Net gain/loss | Seats % | Votes % | Votes | +/− |
| Labour | 8 | 1 | 0 | +1 | 40.0 | 31.11 | 10,228 | +3.31 |
| Conservative | 6 | 0 | 1 | -1 | 30.0 | 29.68 | 9,757 | -4.72 |
| SNP | 4 | 1 | 0 | +1 | 20.0 | 19.84 | 6,521 | +3.84 |
| Independent | 2 | - | - | - | 10.0 | 14.92 | 4,906 | +4.12 |
| Liberal Democrats | 0 | 0 | 1 | -1 | 0.0 | 3.43 | 1,128 | -6.77 |
| Scottish Green | 0 | - | - | - | - | 0.85 | 278 | +0.25 |
| UKIP | 0 | - | - | - | - | 0.17 | 56 | 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 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
### Neilston, Uplawmoor and Newton Mearns North

* 2007: 2xCon; 1xLab; 1xSNP
* 2012: 2xLab; 1xCon; 1xSNP
* 2007-2012: Lab gain one seat from Con
Neilston, Uplawmoor and Newton Mearns 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 |
| | Conservative | Charlie Gilbert (incumbent) | 23.26 | 1,417 | | | | | | | |
| | SNP | Tony Buchanan (incumbent) | 17.34 | 1,052 | 1,059 | 1,075 | 1,090 | 1,294 | | | |
| | Labour | Elaine Green (incumbent) | 18.11 | 1,099 | 1,113 | 1,122 | 1,150 | 1,164 | 1,179 | 1,246 | |
| | Labour | Paul O'Kane | 17.11 | 1,038 | 1,043 | 1,059 | 1,077 | 1,086 | 1,095 | 1,140 | 1,165 |
| | Conservative | Leslie Rosin (incumbent) | 10.55 | 640 | 773 | 784 | 817 | 827 | 831 | 901 | 902 |
| | Scottish Green | Grace McCarthy | 4.58 | 278 | 289 | 327 | 372 | 395 | 411 | | |
| | SNP | Frank Rankin | 4.10 | 249 | 252 | 262 | 272 | | | | |
| | Liberal Democrats | Roy Provan | 2.51 | 152 | 162 | 180 | | | | | |
| | Independent | Graham Williamson | 2.34 | 142 | 148 | | | | | | |

### Barrhead

* 2007: 2xLab; 1xIndependent; 1xSNP
* 2012: 2xLab; 1xIndependent; 1xSNP
* 2007-2012: No change
Barrhead - 4 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| | Independent | Danny Devlin (incumbent) | 28.79 | 1,741 | | | | | |
| | Labour | Betty Cunningham (incumbent) | 23.43 | 1,417 | | | | | |
| | Labour | Kenny Hay | 10.40 | 629 | 726 | 874 | 880 | 923 | 1,064 |
| | SNP | Tommy Reilly | 11.84 | 716 | 799 | 813 | 819 | 854 | 964 |
| | SNP | Douglas Yates | 11.84 | 716 | 776 | 783 | 787 | 824 | 927 |
| | Independent | Eddie Phillips | 7.09 | 429 | 563 | 574 | 589 | 692 | |
| | Conservative | Tariq Parvez | 5.69 | 344 | 373 | 377 | 395 | | |
| | UKIP | Sarah-Louise Hemy | 0.93 | 56 | 70 | 72 | | | |

### Giffnock and Thornliebank

* 2007: 1xLab; 1xCon; 1xLib Dem
* 2012: 1xLab; 1xCon; 1xSNP
* 2007-2012: SNP gain one seat from Lib Dem
Giffnock and Thornliebank - 3 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| | Labour | Jim Fletcher (incumbent) | 35.53 | 1,935 | | |
| | Conservative | Gordon Wallace (incumbent) | 21.36 | 1,163 | 1,207 | 1,398 |
| | SNP | Vincent Waters | 19.89 | 1,083 | 1,209 | 1,375 |
| | Independent | Hugh Moore | 11.84 | 645 | 751 | 994 |
| | Liberal Democrats | Alex Mackie (incumbent) | 11.38 | 620 | 747 | |

### Netherlee, Stamperland and Williamwood

* 2007: 1xLab; 1xIndependent; 1xCon
* 2012: 1xLab; 1xIndependent; 1xCon
* 2007-2012: No change
Netherlee, Stamperland and Williamwood - 3 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| | Labour | Mary Montague (incumbent) | 29.79 | 1,528 | | | |
| | Independent | Ralph Robertson (incumbent) | 29.10 | 1,493 | | | |
| | Conservative | Gordon McCaskill (incumbent)† | 20.51 | 1,052 | 1,074 | 1,141 | 1,205 |
| | SNP | Irene Anderson | 18.19 | 933 | 1,006 | 1,064 | 1,120 |
| | Liberal Democrats | Gordon Cochrane | 2.42 | 124 | 171 | 198 | |

### Newton Mearns South

* 2007: 2xCon; 1xLab
* 2012: 2xCon; 1xLab
* 2007-2012: No change
Newton Mearns South - 3 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| | Conservative | Jim Swift (incumbent) | 30.23 | 1,448 | | | | | |
| | Conservative | Barbara Grant (incumbent) | 22.99 | 1,101 | 1,186 | 1,200 | | | |
| | Labour | Ian McAlpine (incumbent) | 17.10 | 819 | 825 | 844 | 844 | 889 | 1,115 |
| | Conservative | Alistair Haw | 10.23 | 490 | 626 | 630 | 632 | 709 | 819 |
| | SNP | Frank Angell | 12.67 | 607 | 613 | 629 | 629 | 684 | |
| | Independent | Bryson McNeil | 5.07 | 243 | 250 | 268 | 268 | | |
| | Liberal Democrats | Anna McCurley | 1.71 | 82 | 84 | | | | |

### Busby, Clarkston and Eaglesham

* 2007: 1xLab; 1xCon; 1xSNP
* 2012: 1xLab; 1xSNP; 1xCon
* 2007-2012: No change
Busby, Clarkston and Eaglesham - 3 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| | Labour | Alan Lafferty (incumbent) | 32.69 | 1,763 | | |
| | SNP | Alastair Carmichael (incumbent) | 21.60 | 1,165 | 1,275 | 1,336 |
| | Conservative | Stewart Miller (incumbent) | 22.68 | 1,223 | 1,260 | 1,301 |
| | Conservative | Alec White | 16.30 | 879 | 890 | 900 |
| | Independent | George Kennedy | 3.95 | 213 | 278 | 323 |
| | Liberal Democrats | Ritchie Adam | 2.78 | 150 | 208 | |
| Quota: {{{quota}}} ||||

## Post-Election Changes

* † Netherlee, Stamperland and Williamwood Conservative Cllr Gordon McCaskill was suspended by the party following comments he made on Twitter about Scotland's First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, and Islamic State. He has since been reinstated by the Conservative Group.