Party Composition in Island Unitary Councils

'We should never forget, in the midst of complex political arguments, that ordinary human emotions can usually be relied upon to outweigh statistics, theories and policy statements.' James Halliday, January 1998.

Political Composition of Scottish Island Unitary Councils

It should be noted that an election for Laxdale in the Western Isles was held at a later date due to a lack of candidates at the Unitary elections. On 5 th May 1994, there were no candidates for ward 1 - Kirkwall Pickaquoy in Orkney. I am unaware whether this vacancy has since been filled.

Authority	Date	Administration	Labour	SNP	Con	Lib Dem	Indep	Others
Orkney	May 94	Ind	0	0	0	0	26	1
	Now	Ind	0	0	0	0	26	1
	On 5 th May 1994, there were no candidates for ward 1 - Kirkwall Pickaquoy.
Shetland	May 94	Ind	1	0	0	2	16	7
	Now	Ind	1	0	0	3	16	6
	In a by-election on 14 th November 1996, the Liberal Democrats gained the South Yell ward from the Shetland Movement.
Western Isles	May 94	Ind	4	0	0	0	25	0
	Now	Ind	5	0	0	0	25	0
	On 5 th May 1994, there were no candidates for ward 10 - Laxdale. An election was on held on 9 th June 1994 which was won by Labour.
Scottish Island Authorities	May 94		5	0	0	2	67	8
	Late Elections		+1 *
	Rerun Elections
	By-elections					+1		-1
	Defections
	Expulsions
	Now		6	0	0	3	67	7

* In Laxdale (Western Isles) there were no candidates in May 1994.

I am grateful to James R. Aitken, Rob Barnett, Director of Administration and Legal Services of Western Isles Council and Keith Edkins, Webmaster of the Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors local government by-election site for supplying information for this page.

For the political composition of English and Welsh local authorities see the Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors' web site.