Elections to

Fife Council Fife Council is the local authority for the Fife area of Scotland and is the third largest Scottish council by number of councillors, having 75 elected council members. Councillors make decisions at its regular council meetings, or at those of ...

were held on 4 May 2017, the same day as the other

Scottish local government Local government in Scotland comprises thirty-two local authorities, commonly referred to as ''councils''. Each council provides public services, including education, social care, waste management, libraries and planning. Councils receive the ma ...

elections An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operated ...

. The election used the 22

wards Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...

created as a result of the Local Government Commission for Scotland's 5th review which was published in September 2016, with each ward electing three or four councillors using the

single transferable vote The single transferable vote (STV) or proportional-ranked choice voting (P-RCV) is a multi-winner electoral system in which each voter casts a single vote in the form of a ranked ballot. Voters have the option to rank candidates, and their vot ...

system form of

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to any electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to political divisions (Political party, political parties) amon ...

, with 75 councillors elected; a decrease of three seats from 2012 as one ward, The Lochs, was abolished. The

Scottish National Party The Scottish National Party (SNP; ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic party. The party holds 61 of the 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament, and holds 9 out of the 57 Scottish seats in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, ...

replaced

Scottish Labour Scottish Labour (), is the part of the UK Labour Party (UK), Labour Party active in Scotland. Ideologically social democratic and Unionism in the United Kingdom, unionist, it holds 23 of 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament and 37 of 57 Sco ...

as the largest party for the first time in the Fife region, although they did not gain enough seats to form a majority, and both the group leader and deputy leader lost their seats. The

Scottish Conservatives The Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party (), known as Scottish Tories, is part of the UK Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party active in Scotland. It currently holds 5 of the 57 Scottish seats in the House of Commons of the United Ki ...

made the most gains, replacing the

Scottish Liberal Democrats The Scottish Liberal Democrats () is a liberal, federalist political party in Scotland, part of UK Liberal Democrats. The party holds 5 of the 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament, 6 of the 57 Scottish seats in the House of Commons and 86 of 1 ...

as the third biggest party. The election also returned no

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

councillors, marking the first time the area will be without any Independent representation since the creation of Fife Regional Council in

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; ...

. On 18 May, the two largest parties of the new council, the SNP and Scottish Labour, signed a Power Sharing Agreement to co-run an administration. David Alexander (SNP) and David Ross (Labour) were made co-leaders, and

Jim Leishman Jim Leishman MBE (born 15 November 1953) is a Scottish Labour Party politician and former professional football player and manager. He is currently Provost of Fife and an honorary director of Scottish Championship side Dunfermline Athletic ...

remained in his role as

Provost Provost may refer to: Officials Ecclesiastic * Provost (religion), a high-ranking church official * Prince-provost, a high-ranking church official Government * Provost (civil), an officer of local government, including the equivalent ...

Election results

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

West Fife and Coastal Villages

*2012: 2xLab; 1xSNP; 1xIndependent *2017: 1xLab; 1xCon; 1xSNP *2012-2017 Change: 1 Con gain from Lab (One less seat in this ward for 2017)

Dunfermline North

*2012: 2xLab; 1xSNP *2017: 1xCon; 1xSNP; 1xLab *2012-2017 Change: 1 Con gain from Lab

Dunfermline Central

*2012: 2xLab; 1xLib Dem; 1xSNP *2017: 2xLab; 1xCon; 1xSNP *2012-2017 Change: Conservative gain one seat from Lib Dem

Dunfermline South

*2012: 2xLab; 1xLib Dem; 1xSNP *2017: 1xCon; 1xSNP; 1xLib Dem; 1xLab *2012-2017 Change: Conservative gain from Labour

Rosyth

*2012: 2xLab; 1xSNP *2017: 1xCon; 1xSNP; 1xLab *2012-2017: Conservative gain one seat from Labour

Inverkeithing and Dalgety Bay

*2012: 2xLab; 1xSNP; 1xCon *2017: 2xSNP; 1xCon; 1xLab *2012-2017 Change: SNP gain one seat from Labour

Cowdenbeath

*2012: 2xLab; 1xSNP *2017: 2xLab; 1xSNP; 1xCon *2012-2017 Change: (One additional seat in this ward for 2017) Conservative gain additional seat * = Sitting Councillor for East Neuk and Landward Ward.

Lochgelly, Cardenden and Benarty

*2012: 2xLab; 1xSNP *2017: 2xLab; 2xSNP *2012-2017 Change: (One additional seat in this ward for 2017) SNP gain additional seat

Burntisland, Kinghorn and Western Kirkcaldy

*2012: 1xLab; 1xSNP; 1xLib Dem *2017: 1xCon; 1xSNP; 1xLab *2012-2017 Change: Conservative gain one seat from Lib Dem * = Sitting Councillor for Kirkcaldy Central.

Kirkcaldy North

*2012: 2xLab; 1xSNP *2017: 2xLab; 1xSNP *2012-2017 Change: No change

Kirkcaldy Central

*2012: 2xLab; 1xSNP *2017: 2xLab; 1xSNP *2012-2017 Change: No change

Kirkcaldy East

*2012: 2xLab; 1xSNP *2017: 1xLab; 1xSNP; 1xCon *2012-2017 Change: Conservative gain one seat from Labour

Glenrothes West and Kinglassie

*2012: 2xSNP; 2xLab *2017: 2xSNP; 1xLab *2012-2017 Change: (One less seat in this ward for 2017) Labour lose seat

Glenrothes North, Leslie and Markinch

*2012: 2xSNP; 2xLab *2017: 2xSNP; 1xCon; 1xLab *2012-2017 Change: Conservative gain one seat from Labour

Glenrothes Central and Thornton

*2012: 2xLab; 1xSNP *2017: 2xSNP; 1xLab *2012-2017 Change: SNP gain one seat from Labour

Howe of Fife and Tay Coast

*2012: 1xLib Dem; 1xSNP; 1xCon *2017: 1xLib Dem; 1xCon; 1xSNP *2012-2017 Change: No change

Tay Bridgehead

*2012: 2xLib Dem; 1xSNP *2017: 2xLib Dem; 1xSNP *2012-2017 Change: No change

St. Andrews

*2012: 1xCon; 1xSNP; 1xLib Dem; 1xLab *2017: 1xLib Dem; 1xCon; 1xLab; 1xSNP *2012-2017 Change: No change

East Neuk and Landward

*2012: 2xLib Dem; 1xSNP *2017: 1xCon; 1xSNP; 1xLib Dem *2012-2017 Change: Conservative gain one seat from Lib Dem

Cupar

*2012: 1xIndependent; 1xLib Dem; 1xSNP *2017: 1xLib Dem; 1xCon; 1xSNP *2012-2017 Change: Conservative gain one seat from Independent

Leven, Kennoway and Largo

*2012: 2xLab; 2xSNP *2017: 2xSNP; 1xCon; 1xLab *2012-2017 Change: Conservative gain one seat from Labour

Buckhaven, Methil and Wemyss Villages

*2012: 2xLab; 1xIndependent; 1xSNP *2017: 2xSNP; 2xLab *2012-2017 Change: SNP gain one seat from Independent

Changes since 2017

*† On 8 June 2018, Inverkeithing and Dalgety Bay Labour Councillor

Lesley Laird Lesley Margaret Laird (' Langan; born 15 November 1958) is a Scottish politician who served as Deputy Leader of the Scottish Labour Party from 2017 to 2019. She was Member of Parliament (MP) for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath from 2017 to 2019, and ...

resigned her seat as she won the MP seat for

Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy is a county constituency representing the areas around the towns of Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath, in Fife, Scotland, in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. ...

Shadow Scottish Secretary The shadow secretary of state for Scotland is a member of the UK Shadow Cabinet responsible for the scrutiny of the secretary of state for Scotland and his/her department, the Scotland Office. The incumbent holder of the office is Andrew Bow ...

, and Deputy Leader of the

Scottish Labour Party Scottish Labour (), is the part of the UK Labour Party active in Scotland. Ideologically social democratic and unionist, it holds 23 of 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament and 37 of 57 Scottish seats in the House of Commons. It is repres ...

. A by-election was held on Thursday, 6 September 2018. The seat was won by Conservative candidate Dave Colman. *†† On 13 September 2019 Rosyth SNP Councillor Samantha Steele resigned her seat citing health reasons and family problems. A by-election was held on 14 November 2019 and Sharon Green-Wilson held the seat for the SNP. *††† In September 2019 Dunfermline Central Conservative Cllr Alan Craig resigned his seat. A by-election was held on 14 November 2019 and Derek Glen gained the seat for the SNP *†††† On 2 December 2019 East Neuk and Landward Conservative Cllr Linda Holt resigned from the party and became an Independent calling the Tories dysfunctional. *††††† West Fife and Coastal Villages SNP Cllr Kate Stewart decided to leave the SNP and become an Independent on 25 March 2020. *†††††† East Neuk and Landward SNP Cllr John Docherty decided to leave the SNP and become an Independent as he was not selected to stand for the SNP

By-elections since 2017

References

{{United Kingdom local elections, 2017

Fife Fife ( , ; ; ) is a council areas of Scotland, council area and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in Scotland. A peninsula, it is bordered by the Firth of Tay to the north, the North Sea to the east, the Firth of Forth to the s ...

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

21st century in Fife