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Local Government Elections
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1) The McIntosh Commission (January 1998 - June 1999)
The Independent Commission was set up to examine the implications that the Scottish Parliament would have for local government in Scotland. It recommended
that proportional representation should be introduced for local elections.
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2) The Kerley Working Group (June 1999 - June 2000)
The Kerley Working Group was assigned the task of selecting the proportional electoral system that would be most appropriate for local
elections. It concluded that the Single Transferable Vote (STV) system was the most suitable.
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3) Fairshare (January 2001)
Scotland’s Campaign for Local Democracy is launched to campaign for the introduction of STV for the election of Scotland’s
councillors.
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4) The Scottish Executive (March - July 2002)
On 27th March 2002, the Scottish Executive published a White Paper on local government reform, called 'Renewing Local Democracy:
The Next Steps'. It includes a section on voting reform.
The White Paper formed the basis of a four-month consultation. Responses to that consultation
were overwhelmingly in support of STV as the most appropriate voting system for local
government:
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| Written responses in support of: |
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STV |
252 |
80% |
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AMS or AV+ |
4 |
1% |
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PR (system unspecified) |
21 |
7% |
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First-past-the-post |
39 |
12% |
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The Local Government Committee of the Scottish Parliament began an Inquiry in May 2002 into the issues
raised in the Consultation Paper and published its Report in January 2003.
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3rd Report 2003: Report on Inquiry into Renewing Local Democracy
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5) Tricia Marwick's STV bill (November 2002)
Faced with the slow progress of the Executive, Tricia Marwick MSP, the then SNP spokesperson on
local government, introduced a Member's Bill for the use of STV in local government
elections. The bill was considered at several sessions of the Parliament's Local Government
Committee, but was rejected on the grounds that there had been insufficient consultation (!).
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Fairshare's evidence
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6) Scottish Executive's first draft bill (February 2003)
At the end of September 2002 the Executive announced that it would publish a draft bill for the
introduction of STV for local government elections, and the bill eventually appeared in February
2003.
Although the draft bill was welcomed by electoral reformers, it was not a perfect document. In
particular, it left open the possibility of introducing STV in single-member wards - i.e. the
non-proportional alternative vote system. Moreover, the draft bill was not to be put before the
Parliament until after the 2003 elections, with the possibility that a new Executive could rescind
the decision.
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7) Scottish elections and the new Partnership Agreement (May 2003)
The Scottish Parliament elections on 1st May 2003 saw both Labour and the SNP losing seats, but Labour
was again able to form a coalition administration with the Liberal Democrats. The 'Partnership
Agreement' on which the coalition was based included a commitment to the introduction of STV for
local government using 3- and 4-member wards.
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8) Scottish Executive's second draft bill (July 2003)
In July 2003 the Scottish Executive published a consultation paper 'Draft Local Governance
(Scotland) Bill: Consultation'. The draft bill in this paper had been changed from the draft
published in February 2003, but contained some confusing wording, different from that used in
the Northern Ireland legislation on which it was based. It would provide for 3- and 4-member
wards, as set out in the 'Partnership Agreement'. It would also repeal the rules for determining
how ward boundaries were to be drawn and substitute secondary legislation. These features
attracted some adverse comment and Fairshare, among others, suggested the Executive should
improve the draft before introducing it in the Scottish Parliament.
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9) Local Governance (Scotland) Bill (November 2003)
The Executive introduced its bill on 21 November 2003. It had been
considerably improved from the consultation draft. There was, however, no
change on 3- and 4-member wards or on the rules for drawing ward boundaries.
The Local Government and Transport Committee of the Parliament began its
Stage 1 consideration of the Bill on 2 December 2003 following a Call for
Written Evidence.
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10) STV Working Group
At the time the Executive published its second draft Bill, it also announced the establishment of an
STV Working Group to consider implementation issues. Although this Group is not required to report
until September 2004, it published an Interim Report on 28 January in which it made the case for 3 -
5 member wards, with 2-member wards in exceptional circumstances. Not only would this wider range of
ward sizes improve proportionality, it would make it possible to draw ward boundaries around
natural communities more easily.
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11) Local Governance (Scotland) Bill Stage One Report (March 2004)
The Local Government and Transport Committee completed its Stage 1 consideration of the Bill and
published its Report on 19 March 2004. The report was very supportive of the provisions to
introduce STV. The Committee recommended that the Parliament agrees to the general principles of
the Bill (the formula for the Stage 1 debate).
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12) Local Governance (Scotland) Bill Stage One Debate (March 2004)
Historic vote for democracy!
The Stage 1 debate on the Local Governance (Scotland) Bill took place in the Parliament chamber on
the afternoon of Wednesday, 24 March 2004. The debate lasted nearly two-and-a-half hours and 19
MSPs made speeches. There was widespread support for changing the voting system, across the
political spectrum. There was also opposition to any change. There were several impassioned
speeches and some pertinent interventions. There was also some party-political point-scoring and
some quite fantastic arguments against improving democracy in Scotland's local government.
The motion, proposed by Andy Kerr (Minister with responsibility for Local Government in the Scottish
Executive) was: "That the Parliament agrees to the general principles of the Local Governance
(Scotland) Bill". At Decision Time , MSPs voted 95 in favour, to 19 against, with 6 abstentions.
An amendment proposed by Tommy Sheridan (SSP) expressed support for the recommendation of the STV
Working Group that ward sizes should generally be three to five members, with the option of
two-member wards in exceptional circumstances. This amendment was lost: MSPs voted 36 in favour,
to 83 against, with no abstentions.
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13) Local Governance (Scotland) Bill Stage Two (May 2004)
The Local Government and Transport Committee completed the Stage 2 consideration of the Bill in just
two meetings: 4 May and 11 May. After these meetings, the Executive published its Response to the
Committee's Stage 1 Report: this document provides background to some of the amendments introduced
at Stage 2 by the Executive and to their resistance to some of the amendments introduced by others.
Amendments to allow wards with 3 to 5 councillors, with 2 in exceptional circumstances, were all
"not agreed to", despite the recommendations from the STV Working Group (see 10 above). All the
Sections dealing with the STV counting rules were removed from the Bill and replaced by a
requirement for Scottish Ministers to bring forward Orders (secondary legislation) that will cover
these details. The Bill was also amended to provide the basic rules that will apply when the Local
Government Boundary Commission for Scotland draws up the schemes of multi-member wards and when
Scottish Ministers consider the LGBCS recommendations.
An amendment to require a national referendum before STV could be implemented was withdrawn after
discussion because of the lack of support within the Committee. An amendment to delay
implementation until after the Commission on Boundary Differences and Voting Systems had reported
was "not agreed to".
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14) Local Governance (Scotland) Bill Stage Three (June 2004)
The Bill is passed! The Scottish Parliament voted overwhelmingly to introduce STV in multi-member
wards for the council elections due in 2007.
The Stage 3 debate on the Local Governance (Scotland) Bill took place in the Parliament chamber on
the afternoon of Wednesday, 23 June 2004. The debate took most of the afternoon and was in two
parts.
First the MSPs considered the Stage 3 Amendments to the text of the Bill. Some of these were
technical, but others dealt with more substantial issues. Tricia Marwick and Tommy Sheridan moved
amendments to widen the range of the number of councillors that could be elected from each ward,
from 3 or 4, to 2, 3, 4 or 5 with 2-member wards restricted to remote or sparsely populated areas.
These amendments were "not agreed to" when MSPs voted 47 For, 65 Against, with no Abstentions.
Helen Eadie, with support of Elaine Smith, moved amendments that would require Scottish Ministers to
hold a referendum on the principle of adopting the single transferable vote and for a majority to
vote in support of that principle before Part 1 of the future Act could be brought into force.
These amendments were rejected by all the MSPs present except the proposers: For 2, Against 110,
with no Abstentions.
Once all the amendments had been dealt with, Andy Kerr (Minister with responsibility for Local
Government in the Scottish Executive) moved the motion: "That the Parliament agrees that the Local
Governance (Scotland) Bill be passed". Tricia Marwick moved an amendment supporting the Bill, but
urging the Scottish Executive to bring forward legislation to decouple elections to Scottish local
authorities from the elections to the Parliament, so that they would no longer be held on the same
day. In the votes at Decision Time, the amendment was defeated (For 39, Against 78, Abstentions 0)
and the motion was passed with overwhelming support: For 96, Against 18, Abstentions 2.
The Bill has now been submitted for the Royal Assent.
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15) Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004
The Local Governance (Scotland) Act received the Royal Assent on 28 July 2004.
The Local Governance (Scotland) Act became law on 29 July 2004.
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16) Review of Ward Boundaries
The Commencement Order to start the review of ward boundaries was signed on 19 August 2004. This
brought into force Sections 4, 5 and 6 of the Act that relate directly to the review of ward
boundaries. Under the provisions of Section 4, Scottish Ministers have given directions to the
Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland (LGBCS) and to the Councils of all local
government areas in Scotland. Direction Orders are not published on the legislation website, but
the LGBCS has published both Orders on its website.
Wards will return either three or four councillors. There will be no changes in the boundaries of
the 32 local government areas or in the numbers of councillors elected to each Council. In the
initial stages of the review, the LGBCS will consult with Councils, as prescribed in the Act. It is
expected that the LGBCS will publish its draft proposals for the wards in all local government areas
in Scotland early in 2005 when there will be a period of public consultation.
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STV Ballot Paper Design
Fairshare Briefing Note 15 June 2006
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