Scottish local elections, 1967

Scottish local elections were held in 1967 to elect members to the various Corporations, Burghs, and County Boards of Scotland.

SNP Gains

The election was contested by a large number of SNP candidates, following on from the parties success good showing in the 1967 Glasgow Pollok by-election. The SNP ultimately won 16% of the vote in the municipal elections, and won 23 seats.^[1] The election also saw the SNP gain their first Councillor on Clydebank Burgh Council.^[2]

Conservative entry into Local Government

The elections also saw the first time that Conservatives contested local elections on a Conservative ticket. Previously the Conservative party had not contested local elections, with their place being instead fulfilled by local anti-socialist groups known as the Progressives. Despite these organisational differences however, the Progressives were seen be the electorate as Tories, and the two shared the same ideology.^[3]

The Conservative party's decision to partake in local elections was largely driven out of a desire to increase party efficiency. In contrast to the Conservatives, Labour had been competing in Scottish local elections for many years. This was seen as providing Labour party activists a great deal of valuable campaigning experience, whilst the Conservative party electoral machine had only been deployed in the intermittent general elections and by-elections. The lack of involvement in local elections also meant that the Conservatives were unable to assess party support as well as Labour. Even in 1974, when the Conservatives had been fighting local elections for several years, the party was still taken by surprise by the surge in SNP support in what were seen as traditional Scottish Tory heartlands.^[3]

Results

Municipal Results

Municipal Aggregate

Scottish Municipal Elections, 1967[4]
Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Labour		3	42
	Progressives		10	0
	SNP		14	0				~200,000
	Conservative		8	0
	Moderates		3	1
	Liberal		4	1
	Communist		1	0
	Others		14	9

Municipal Breakdown^[4]

Council	Labour	Progressives	Conservative	SNP	Liberal	Independent	Other	Turnout	Total Seats Contested	Control		Details
Aberdeen	6	6 (2)							12		Labour	Details
Dundee	6 (1)	6 (1)	0	0	0	0	0		12		No overall control	Details
Edinburgh	9 (3)	14 (1)	2 (2)	0	0	0	0		25		Progressives	Details
Glasgow	20 (3)	17 (2)	1 (1)						38		Labour	Details

Council	Labour	Progressives	Conservative	SNP	Liberal	Independent	Other	Turnout	Total Seats Contested	Control		Details
Burntisland	1 (3)	3 (3)							4		Progressives	Details
Dumbarton	2 (1)	3 (1) (Mods)							5		Moderates	Details
Hamilton	3 (1)	3 (1) (Unionists)							6		Labour	Details
Paisley	5 (2)					4 (2)	1	40.4 (4.2)	10		Labour	Details
Penicuik	0 (2)					3 (2)			3		Independent	Details

County Results

County Breakdown

Council	Labour	Progressives	Conservative	SNP	Liberal	Independent	Other	Turnout	Total Seats Contested	Control		Details
Aberdeenshire											Independent	Details
Angus											Independent	Details
Ayrshire												Details
Banffshire											Independent	Details
Berwickshire											Independent	Details
Bute											Independent	Details
Caithness											Independent	Details
Dumfriesshire											Independent	Details
Fife												Details
Lanarkshire											Labour	Details
Midlothian												Details
Renfrewshire											Independent	Details
Roxburghshire											Independent	Details
Selkirkshire											Independent	Details
Stirlingshire											No overall control	Details
Total

References

1. Kellas, James G. The Scottish Political System. p. 132.
2. Watson, Carrick. "Clydebank - Politics and Local Government".
3. Reform Of Local Govt Finance. Routledge. 2013. p. 47.
4. https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=GGgVawPscysC&dat=19670503&printsec=frontpage&hl=en