Local election

Local election

Local elections vary widely across jurisdictions. In electoral systems that roughly follow the Westminster model, a terminology has evolved with roles such as Mayor or Warden to describe the executive of a city, town or region, although the actual means of elections vary...

s were held in Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 on Thursday 3 May 1984, to elect members to all 53 district councils under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973

Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973

The Local Government Act 1973 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, that reformed local government in Scotland, on May 16, 1975....

, which had established the two-tier system of regions and districts. This was the first election to take place after the 1983 landslide victory for Mrs Thatcher, which resulted in the Labour taking control of City of Edinburgh for the first time.

National results

Summary of the 1984 Scottish district council election results
|-
!colspan=2|Parties
!Votes
!Votes %
!Wards
|-

|
|45.7
|545
|-

|
|11.7
|59
|-

|
|21.4
|189
|-

|
|12.8
|78
|-

|
|6.8
|267
|-
| style="width: 10px" bgcolor=|
| style="text-align: left;" scope="row" | Other
|
|
|
|-
!colspan=2|Total
!
!n/a
!~1158
|}

Results by council area

The numbers of seats on each council before and after the election were as follows:

Borders

Council	Labour	Conservative	Liberal & SDP	Independent	Control
Berwickshire Berwickshire Berwickshire or the County of Berwick is a registration county, a committee area of the Scottish Borders Council, and a lieutenancy area of Scotland, on the border with England. The town after which it is named—Berwick-upon-Tweed—was lost by Scotland to England in 1482...	0	8 (-3)	SDP 1	0 hold
Ettrick and Lauderdale Ettrick and Lauderdale Ettrick & Lauderdale 1975-96Ettrick and Lauderdale was one of four local government districts in the Borders region of Scotland from 1975 to 1996....	2 (+1)	1 (-1)	0	13 hold
Roxburgh Roxburghshire Roxburghshire or the County of Roxburgh is a registration county of Scotland. It borders Dumfries to the west, Selkirk to the north-west, and Berwick to the north. To the south-east it borders Cumbria and Northumberland in England.It was named after the Royal Burgh of Roxburgh...	0	5	Lib 3 (+2) SDP 1	7 (-2)		Independents lose to NOC
Tweeddale Tweeddale Tweeddale is a committee area and lieutenancy area in the Scottish Borders with a population of 17,394 at the latest census in 2001 it is the second smallest of the 5 committee areas in the Borders. It is the traditional name for the area drained by the upper reaches of the River Tweed...	0	0	0	10 hold

Central

Council	Labour	Conservative	SNP	Independent	Control
Clackmannan Clackmannanshire Clackmannanshire, often abbreviated to Clacks is a local government council area in Scotland, and a lieutenancy area, bordering Perth and Kinross, Stirling and Fife.As Scotland's smallest historic county, it is often nicknamed 'The Wee County'....	7 (+3)	1	2 (-3)	0 hold
Falkirk Falkirk (council area) Falkirk is one of the 32 unitary authority council areas in Scotland. It borders onto North Lanarkshire to the south west, Stirling to the north west, West Lothian to the south east and, across the Firth of Forth to the north east, Fife and Clackmannanshire...	25 (+1)	2 (-1)	7 (+1)	2 (-1) hold
Stirling Stirling (council area) Stirling is one of the 32 unitary local government council areas of Scotland, and has a population of about 87,000 . It was created under the Local Government etc Act 1994 with the boundaries of the Stirling district of the former Central local government region, and it covers most of the former...	11 (+1)	8 (-1)	0	1 hold

Dumfries and Galloway

Council	Labour	Conservative	SNP	Liberal	Independent	Other	Control
Annandale and Eskdale Annandale and Eskdale Annandale and Eskdale is a committee area in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It covers the areas of Annandale and Eskdale, the straths of the River Annan and the River Esk respectively....	0	0	0	4 (+4)	12 (-4)	0 hold
Nithsdale Nithsdale Nithsdale , also known by its anglicised gaelic name Strathnith or Stranit, is the valley of the River Nith in Scotland, and the name of the region...	6 (+1)	7 (+1)	7 (+1)	0	7 (-4)	Independent Labour 1 (+1)		No Overall Control
Stewartry Stewartry Stewartry 1975-dateStewartry is a committee area in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland.It was formerly one of four local government districts in the Dumfries and Galloway Region of Scotland....	0	0	0	0	12	0 hold
Wigtown Wigtown Area Wigtown Area is a committee area of Dumfries and Galloway Council. Its boundaries are similar to those of the former Wigtown district of the Dumfries and Galloway region...	0	0	1 (+1)	0	13 (-1)	0 hold

Fife

Council	Labour	Conservative	SNP	Liberal & SDP	Independent	Other	Control
Dunfermline Dunfermline Dunfermline is a town and former Royal Burgh in Fife, Scotland, on high ground from the northern shore of the Firth of Forth. According to a 2008 estimate, Dunfermline has a population of 46,430, making it the second-biggest settlement in Fife. Part of the town's name comes from the Gaelic word... ‡	24	2	1	Lib 3 SDP 3	0	Communist Communist Party of Great Britain The Communist Party of Great Britain was the largest communist party in Great Britain, although it never became a mass party like those in France and Italy. It existed from 1920 to 1991.-Formation:...  1 hold
Kirkcaldy Kirkcaldy Kirkcaldy is a town and former royal burgh in Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. The town lies on a shallow bay on the northern shore of the Firth of Forth; SSE of Glenrothes, ENE of Dunfermline, WSW of Dundee and NNE of Edinburgh... ‡	30	3	1	SDP 2 Lib 1	2	Ratepayers 1 hold
North-East Fife	0	6 (-4)	0	Liberal 10 (+4)	2	0 gain from Conservatives

‡ New ward boundaries

Grampian

Council	Labour	Conservative	SNP	Liberal	Independent	Control
Banff and Buchan Banff and Buchan Banff and Buchan is a committee area of the Aberdeenshire Council, Scotland.It has a population of 35,742 . Fishing and agriculture are important industries, together with associated processing and service activity....	0	2 (+1)	5	0	11 (-1) hold
City of Aberdeen‡	28	8	0	14	0 hold
Gordon	0	3 (-1)	0	2 (+1)	7 hold
Kincardine and Deeside Kincardine and Deeside Kincardine and Deeside was formerly a local government district inthe Grampian Region of Scotland.In 1996 it was included in the Aberdeenshire unitary area.-History:...	0	3	1	1	7 hold
Moray Moray Moray is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It lies in the north-east of the country, with coastline on the Moray Firth, and borders the council areas of Aberdeenshire and Highland.- History :...	1 (+1)	0	2 (+1)	0	15 (-2) hold

Highland

Council	Labour	Conservative	SNP	Liberal & SDP	Independent	Other	Control
Badenoch and Strathspey Badenoch and Strathspey Badenoch and Strathspey as a local government district 1975 to 1996Badenoch and Strathspey is a local government ward of the Highland council area and a ward management area of the Highland Council in Scotland... ‡ 1 vacancy	0	0	1	0	9	0 hold
Caithness Caithness Caithness is a registration county, lieutenancy area and historic local government area of Scotland. The name was used also for the earldom of Caithness and the Caithness constituency of the Parliament of the United Kingdom . Boundaries are not identical in all contexts, but the Caithness area is... 1 vacancy	0	0	0	Lib 1	14	0 hold
Inverness‡	8 (-1)	0	0	Lib 2	18 (+1)	0 hold
Lochaber Lochaber District of Lochaber 1975 to 1996Highland council area shown as one of the council areas of ScotlandLochaber is one of the 16 ward management areas of the Highland Council of Scotland and one of eight former local government districts of the two-tier Highland region... ‡	5	0	0	0	8	Independent Labour 2 hold
Nairn	1 (+1)	0	0	0	9 (-1)	0 hold
Ross and Cromarty Ross and Cromarty Ross and Cromarty is a variously defined area in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. There is a registration county and a lieutenancy area in current use... ‡ 1 vacancy	2	1	0	0	18	0 hold
Skye and Lochalsh Skye and Lochalsh Skye and Lochalsh is one of eight former local government districts of the two-tier Highland region of Scotland. The main offices of the Skye and Lochalsh district council were in Portree, on the Isle of Skye.-History:...	0	0	0	SDP 1 (+1)	10 (-1)	0 hold
Sutherland Sutherland Sutherland is a registration county, lieutenancy area and historic administrative county of Scotland. It is now within the Highland local government area. In Gaelic the area is referred to according to its traditional areas: Dùthaich 'IcAoidh , Asainte , and Cataibh...	0	0	0	0	14	0 hold

‡ Changes in ward boundaries

Lothian

Council	Labour	Conservative	SNP	Liberal	Independent	Control
City of Edinburgh	34 (+8)	22 (-9)	2	4 (+3)	0 (-2) gain from NOC
East Lothian East Lothian East Lothian is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, and a lieutenancy Area. It borders the City of Edinburgh, Scottish Borders and Midlothian. Its administrative centre is Haddington, although its largest town is Musselburgh....	11 (+1)	6(-1)	0	0	0 hold
Midlothian Midlothian Midlothian is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, and a lieutenancy area. It borders the Scottish Borders, East Lothian and the City of Edinburgh council areas....	14 (+1)	1	0	1	0 (-1) hold
West Lothian West Lothian West Lothian is one of the 32 unitary council areas in Scotland, and a Lieutenancy area. It borders the City of Edinburgh, Falkirk, North Lanarkshire, the Scottish Borders and South Lanarkshire.... ‡	19	0	2	0	3 hold

‡ Changes in ward boundaries

Strathclyde

Council	Labour	Conservative	SNP	Liberal & SDP	Independent	Others	Control
Argyll and Bute Argyll and Bute Argyll and Bute is both one of 32 unitary council areas; and a Lieutenancy area in Scotland. The administrative centre for the council area is located in Lochgilphead.Argyll and Bute covers the second largest administrative area of any Scottish council...	0	1	1	0	24	0 hold
Bearsden and Milngavie Bearsden and Milngavie Bearsden and Milngavie was formerly one of nineteen local government districts in the Strathclyde region of Scotland, north of the City of Glasgow....	1 (-1)	6 (-1)	0	Lib 2 (+2)	1	0 hold
Clydebank Clydebank Clydebank is a town in West Dunbartonshire, in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. Situated on the north bank of the River Clyde, Clydebank borders Dumbarton, the town with which it was combined to form West Dunbartonshire, as well as the town of Milngavie in East Dunbartonshire, and the Yoker and... ‡	11	1	0	0	0	0 hold
Clydesdale Clydesdale Clydesdale was formerly one of nineteen local government districts in the Strathclyde region of Scotland.The district was formed by the Local Government Act 1973 from part of the former county of Lanarkshire: namely the burghs of Biggar and Lanark and the First, Second and Third Districts...	7	0	3	0	6	0		NOC
Cumbernauld and Kilsyth Cumbernauld and Kilsyth Cumbernauld and Kilsyth 1975-96Cumbernauld and Kilsyth was formerly one of nineteen local government districts in the Strathclyde region of Scotland.... ‡	8	0	4	0	0	0 hold
Cumnock and Doon Valley Cumnock and Doon Valley Cumnock and Doon Valley was one of nineteen local government districts in the Strathclyde region of Scotland from 1973 to 1996....	10 (+1)	0	0	0	0 (-1)	0 hold
Cunninghame Cunninghame Cunninghame is a former comital district of Scotland and also a district of the Strathclyde Region from 1975–1996.-Historic Cunninghame:The historic district of Cunninghame was bordered by the districts of Renfrew and Clydesdale to the north and east respectively, by the district of Kyle to the...	23 (+2)	5	2 (-2)	0	0	0 hold
Dumbarton‡	11	2	0	SDP 1	2	0 hold
East Kilbride East Kilbride East Kilbride is a large suburban town in the South Lanarkshire council area, in the West Central Lowlands of Scotland. Designated as Scotland's first new town in 1947, it forms part of the Greater Glasgow conurbation... ‡	14	2	0	0	0	0 hold
Eastwood	0	10	0	0	2	0 hold
City of Glasgow	59	5 (-1)	0	Lib 2 (+1)	0	0 hold
Hamilton Hamilton, South Lanarkshire Hamilton is a town in South Lanarkshire, in the west-central Lowlands of Scotland. It serves as the main administrative centre of the South Lanarkshire council area. It is the fifth-biggest town in Scotland after Paisley, East Kilbride, Livingston and Cumbernauld...	17	1	0	Lib 2	0	0 hold
Inverclyde Inverclyde Inverclyde is one of 32 council areas used for local government in Scotland. Together with the Renfrewshire and East Renfrewshire council areas, Inverclyde forms part of the historic county of Renfrewshire - which current exists as a registration county and lieutenancy area - located in the west... ‡	11	0	0	Lib 9	0	0 hold
Kilmarnock and Loudoun Kilmarnock and Loudoun (district) Kilmarnock and Loudoun was one of nineteen local government districts in the Strathclyde region of Scotland from 1975 to 1996.... ‡	14	3	11	0	0	0 hold
Kyle and Carrick Kyle and Carrick Kyle and Carrick was one of nineteen local government districts in the Strathclyde region of Scotland from 1975 to 1996....	12 (-1)	13 (+1)	0	0	0	0 gain from Labour
Motherwell‡	24	2	2	0	1	Communist Communist Party of Great Britain The Communist Party of Great Britain was the largest communist party in Great Britain, although it never became a mass party like those in France and Italy. It existed from 1920 to 1991.-Formation:...  1 hold
Monklands‡	18	2	0	0	0	0 hold
Strathkelvin Strathkelvin Strathkelvin is the strath of the River Kelvin in west central Scotland, close to the city of Glasgow. The name Strathkelvin was formerly used for one of nineteen local government districts in the Strathclyde region of Scotland.-District :The district of Strathkelvin was formed by the Local... ‡	11	4	0	0	0	0 hold

‡ New ward boundaries.

Tayside

Council	Labour	Conservative	SNP	Liberal & SDP	Independent	Others	Control
Angus Angus Angus is one of the 32 local government council areas of Scotland, a registration county and a lieutenancy area. The council area borders Aberdeenshire, Perth and Kinross and Dundee City... ‡	0	8	11	0	0	0 gain from NOC
City of Dundee	25	15 (-2)	2 (+2)	Lib 1 (+1) SDP 1 (+1)	0 (-1)	0 hold
Perth and Kinross Perth and Kinross Perth and Kinross is one of 32 council areas in Scotland, and a Lieutenancy Area. It borders onto the Aberdeenshire, Angus, Dundee City, Fife, Clackmannanshire, Stirling, Argyll and Bute and Highland council areas. Perth is the administrative centre...	6	14 (-4)	Lib 3 (+2) SDP1 (+1)	1 (+1)	4 (+1)	0		Conservatives lose to NOC

See also

• Elections in Scotland
  Elections in Scotland
  Scotland has elections to several bodies: the Scottish Parliament, the United Kingdom Parliament, the European Parliament, local councils and community councils.-Scottish Parliament:...