Elections to North Lanarkshire Council took place on 5 May 2022 on the same day as the 31 other Scottish local government elections. As with other Scottish council elections, it was held using single transferable vote (STV) – a form of proportional representation – in which multiple candidates are elected in each ward and voters rank candidates in order of preference.

For the second consecutive election, the Scottish National Party (SNP) were returned as the largest party with 36 seats – three shy of an overall majority. Despite a slight increase in vote share, Labour made a net gain of zero seats to remain as the second-largest party on 32 seats. The Conservatives lost half of their seats while both the Greens and the British Unionist Party (BUP) won their first seats in a North Lanarkshire election. The remaining two seats were won by independents.

For the first time in the council's history, Labour lost control as their ruling minority administration supported by the Conservatives was replaced by an SNP minority administration. However, following allegations of sexual harassment against council leader Jordan Linden, Labour regained control of the council three months later.

Background Previous election

At the previous election in 2017, the Scottish National Party (SNP) were returned as the largest party in an election in North Lanarkshire for the first time after winning 33 seats – an increase of three but still six shy of an overall majority. Labour, who had been in power in North Lanarkshire since the council's creation in 1995, failed to win a majority of seats for the first time as their vote share fell by more than one-third and they lost 12 seats to return 32 councillors. The Conservatives won their first seats in North Lanarkshire for a decade after returning 10 councillors and the remaining two seats were won by independent candidates.

+2017 North Lanarkshire Council election resultPartySeatsVote shareSNP3338.4%Labour3233.0%Conservatives1015.9%Independent27.5%

Source:

Electoral system The election used the 21 wards created following the fifth statutory review of electoral arrangements conducted by Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland in 2016, with 77 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.

Composition Since the previous election, several changes in the composition of the council occurred. Most were changes to the political affiliation of councillors including SNP councillors Paddy Hogg and Tommy Cochrane as well as Labour councillors Angela Feeney, Gillian Fannan, Willie Doolan and Tommy Morgan who resigned from their respective parties to become independents. SNP councillors Lynne Anderson, David Baird and Shahid Farooq defected to the Alba Party.

Conservative councillor Stephen Goldsack was expelled from the party for his previous connections to the British National Party, and SNP councillor Mark Kerr stood down from the party after being charged with sexual abuse in July 2020. Six by-elections were held and resulted in a Labour gain from the Conservatives, two Labour holds, two Labour gains from the SNP and an independent hold.

+Composition of North Lanarkshire CouncilParty2017 resultDissolutionSNP3326Labour3231Conservative108Independents29AlbaN/A3

Retiring councillors +Retiring councillorsWardPartyRetiring councillorKilsythIndependentMark KerrCumbernauld NorthConservativeCalum CurrieCumbernauld SouthSNPJunaid AshrafLabourAllan GrahamCumbernauld EastLabourGillian FannanStepps, Chryston and MuirheadAlbaLynne AndersonConservativeSteven GoldsackGartcosh, Glenboig and MoodiesburnLabourWillie DoolanAirdrie NorthConservativeDavid CullenLabourTommy MorganAirdrie CentralSNPNancy PettigrewDavid StocksCoatbridge WestSNPCaroline StephenCoatbridge SouthLabourTom CastlesThorniewoodLabourBob BurrowsBellshillLabourHarry CurranMotherwell WestConservativeMeghan GallacherSNPAnnette ValentineMotherwell NorthLabourOlivia CarsonPat O'RourkeSNPAnn WeirMotherwell South East and RavenscraigSNPAlan ValentineWishawLabourAngela Feeney

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Candidates The total number of candidates fell from 157 in 2017 to 142 despite an increase in the number of parties contesting the election. The SNP again fielded the largest number of candidates at 43 – one less than in 2017 – while Labour again fielded 42 candidates. The Conservatives were the only other party to contest every ward, naming 21 candidates as they had done in 2017. The Greens named the same number of candidates (seven) as they had at the previous election, contesting 7 of the 21 wards.

The number of independent candidates standing fell from twenty in 2017 to seven. The UK Independence Party (UKIP) (two) and the Scottish Socialist Party (one) again contested the election in North Lanarkshire but stood four and one fewer candidates respectively. The British Unionist Party (BUP) stood one candidate as they had in 2017. For the first time, the Alba Party (six), the Scottish Family Party (five), the Independence for Scotland Party (ISP) (one), the Social Democratic Party (SDP) (one) and the Freedom Alliance (one) fielded candidates in a North Lanarkshire election while the Liberal Democrats (three) contested an election in North Lanarkshire for the first time since 2012. Independent Alliance North Lanarkshire, RISE and Solidarity did not contest the election as they had in 2017.

Controversies Scottish Family Party candidates in Lanarkshire were accused of "extremist right wing views" by advocacy group Hope not Hate for their policies on transgender rights and hate speech legislation. The party is considered anti-LGBT but claims to be pro-free speech.

Results

Source:

Note: Votes are the sum of first preference votes across all council wards. The net gain/loss and percentage changes relate to the result of the previous Scottish local elections on 4 May 2017. This is because STV has an element of proportionality which is not present unless multiple seats are being elected. This may differ from other published sources showing gain/loss relative to seats held at the dissolution of Scotland's councils.

Ward summary

|- class="unsortable" align="centre" !rowspan=2 align="left"|Ward ! % !Seats ! % !Seats ! % !Seats ! % !Seats ! % !Seats !rowspan=2|Total |- class="unsortable" align="center" !colspan=2 |SNP !colspan=2 |Labour !colspan=2 |Conservatives !colspan=2 |Green !colspan=2 |Others |- |align="left"|Kilsyth |37.4 |1 |bgcolor="#eea2ad"|52.4 |bgcolor="#eea2ad"|2 |6.4 |0 |colspan=2 |3.7 |0 |3 |- |align="left"|Cumbernauld North |bgcolor="#efe146"|50.3 |bgcolor="#efe146"|2 |27.7 |1 |14.2 |1 |4.1 |0 |3.7 |0 |4 |- |align="left"|Cumbernauld South |bgcolor="#efe146"|51.8 |bgcolor="#efe146"|2 |35.5 |2 |7.9 |0 |colspan=2 |9.1 |0 |4 |- |align="left"|Cumbernauld East |bgcolor="#efe146"|58.5 |bgcolor="#efe146"|3 |23.2 |1 |8.8 |0 |4.2 |0 |5.3 |0 |4 |- |align="left"|Stepps, Chryston and Muirhead |bgcolor="#efe146"|36.4 |bgcolor="#efe146"|1 |34.7 |1 |15.0 |0 |10.8 |1 |3.2 |0 |3 |- |align="left"|Gartcosh, Glenboig and Moodiesburn |bgcolor="#efe146"|46.8 |bgcolor="#efe146"|2 |39.2 |1 |9.4 |0 |4.5 |0 |colspan=2 |3 |- |align="left"|Coatbridge North |bgcolor="#efe146"|46.3 |bgcolor="#efe146"|2 |33.9 |2 |9.7 |0 |colspan=2 |10.1 |0 |4 |- |align="left"|Airdrie North |bgcolor="#efe146"|36.1 |bgcolor="#efe146"|2 |29.3 |1 |10.8 |0 |colspan=2 |23.7 |1 |4 |- |align="left"|Airdrie Central |41.6 |2 |bgcolor="#eea2ad"|42.2 |bgcolor="#eea2ad"|2 |13.7 |0 |colspan=2 |2.5 |0 |4 |- |align="left"|Coatbridge West |bgcolor="#efe146"|47.9 |bgcolor="#efe146"|2 |39.4 |1 |6.16 |0 |colspan=2 |6.5 |0 |3 |- |align="left"|Coatbridge South |bgcolor="#efe146"|53.2 |bgcolor="#efe146"|2 |34.9 |2 |6.7 |0 |2.1 |0 |3.1 |0 |4 |- |align="left"|Airdrie South |bgcolor="#efe146"|47.6 |bgcolor="#efe146"|2 |35.3 |1 |17.1 |1 |colspan=2 |colspan=2 |4 |- |align="left"|Fortissat |30.8 |1 |bgcolor="#eea2ad"|36.5 |bgcolor="#eea2ad"|2 |11.2 |0 |2.6 |0 |18.8 |1 |4 |- |align="left"|Thorniewood |36.8 |1 |bgcolor="#eea2ad"|43.4 |bgcolor="#eea2ad"|2 |7.1 |0 |colspan=2 |12.7 |0 |3 |- |align="left"|Bellshill |bgcolor="#efe146"|40.8 |bgcolor="#efe146"|2 |38.8 |2 |13.6 |0 |colspan=2 |2.2 |0 |4 |- |align="left"|Mossend and Holytown |bgcolor="#efe146"|42.6 |bgcolor="#efe146"|2 |39.4 |2 |12.8 |0 |colspan=2 |5.2 |0 |3 |- |align="left"|Motherwell West |bgcolor="#efe146"|41.1 |bgcolor="#efe146"|2 |31.9 |1 |18.9 |1 |8.1 |0 |colspan=2 |3 |- |align="left"|Motherwell North |bgcolor="#efe146"|46.6 |bgcolor="#efe146"|2 |37.3 |2 |11.0 |0 |colspan=2 |5.0 |0 |4 |- |align="left"|Motherwell South East and Ravenscraig |bgcolor="#efe146"|42.8 |bgcolor="#efe146"|2 |31.2 |1 |16.7 |1 |7.8 |0 |colspan=2 |4 |- |align="left"|Murdostoun |29.7 |1 |28.7 |2 |9.1 |0 |colspan=2 |bgcolor="#c0c0c0"|32.5 |bgcolor="#c0c0c0"|1 |4 |- |align="left"|Wishaw |bgcolor="#efe146"|45.4 |bgcolor="#efe146"|2 |36.1 |1 |18.5 |1 |colspan=2 |colspan=2 |4 |- class="unsortable" class="sortbottom" !Total !43.6 !36 !35.2 !32 !11.8 !5 !2.2 !1 !7.1 !3 !77

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Seats changing hands 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. +Seats changing handsSeat20172022PartyMemberPartyMemberCumbernauld SouthSNPJunaid AshrafLabourPeter McDadeStepps, Chryston and MuirheadConservativeSteven GoldsackGreenClaire Louise WilliamsGartcosh, Glenboig and MoodiesburnLabourWillie DoolanSNPJoanne Katy KeltieAirdrie NorthConservativeDavid CullenSNPRichard Alan SullivanAirdrie CentralConservativeTrevor DouglasLabourChris CostelloCoatbridge WestLabourMary GourlaySNPGary RobinsonFortissatConservativeSandy ThorntonBUPJohn Jo LeckieBellshillConservativeColin CameronSNPLisa Stubbs

Notes

Ward results Kilsyth Labour (2) and the SNP (1) held the seats they won at the last election.

Cumbernauld North The SNP (2), Labour (1) and the Conservatives (1) held the seats they won at the last election.

Cumbernauld South The SNP retained two of the three seats they had won at the previous election while Labour retained their only seat and gained one from the SNP.

Cumbernauld East The SNP (3) and Labour (1) retained the seats they had won at the previous election.

Stepps, Chryston and Muirhead The SNP and Labour retained the seats they had won at the previous election while the Conservatives lost their seat to the Greens.

Gartcosh, Glenboig and Moodiesburn Labour retained one of their two seats while the SNP held their seat and gained one seat from Labour.

Coatbridge North The SNP (2) and Labour (2) retained the seats they had won at the previous election.

Airdrie North The SNP, Labour and independent candidate Alan Beveridge retained the seats they had won at the previous election while the SNP gained one seat from the Conservatives.

Airdrie Central The SNP (2) and Labour (1) retained the seats they had won at the previous election while Labour gained one seat from the Conservatives.

Coatbridge West Labour retained one of the two seats they had won at the previous election while the SNP retained their seat and gained one seat from Labour.

Coatbridge South The SNP (2) and Labour (2) retained the seats they had won at the previous election.

Airdrie South The SNP (2), Labour (1) and the Conservatives (1) retained the seats they had won at the previous election.

Fortissat Labour (2) and the SNP (1) retained the seats they had won at the previous election while the BUP gained a seat from the Conservatives.

Thorniewood Labour (2) and the SNP (1) retained the seats they had won at the previous election.

Bellshill