2017 Scottish Borders Council election

2017 Scottish Borders Council election

← 2012 4 May 2017 (2017-05-04) 2022 →
All 34 seats to Scottish Borders Council 18 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party   SNP Leader Michelle Ballantyne Stuart Bell Party Conservative SNP Leader's seat Selkirkshire Tweeddale East Seats before 10 9 Seats after 15 9 Seat change 5 0 Popular vote 19,355 9,954 Percentage 41.6% 21.4% Swing 18.4% 0.7%   Third party Fourth party   IND LD Leader David Parker Kris Chapman Party Independent Liberal Democrats Leader's seat Leaderdale and Melrose Tweeddale West Seats before 7 6 Seats after 8 2 Seat change 1 4 Popular vote 11,050 3.818 Percentage 23.8% 8.2% Swing 1.1% 8.3%
The 11 multi-member wards
Council Leader before election David Parker Independent Council Leader after election Shona Haslam Conservative

2017 Elections to Scottish Borders Council were held on 4 May 2017, the same day as the other Scottish local government elections. The election used the 11 wards created as a result of the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004, with each ward electing three or four Councillors using the single transferable vote system, a form of proportional representation, with 34 councillors elected.

Following the 2012 election, the Scottish National Party formed a coalition with the support of the Independents and the Liberal Democrats. The Borders Party also supported this administration. This replaced the previous Conservative-Lib Dem-Independent coalition which existed from 2007-2012.

The council was the first to reveal its administration after the election, with the Conservative group forming a coalition with independents to rule the council. New Tweeddale East councillor Shona Haslam became its leader formally on 18 May. Outgoing independent leader, David Parker, become the council's new convener.^[1]