Douglas Reid
(SNP)
No overall control

Leader after election

Douglas Reid
(SNP)
No overall control

Elections to East Ayrshire Council took place on 5 May 2022 on the same day as the 31 other Scottish local government elections. As with other Scottish council elections, it was held using single transferable vote (STV) – a form of proportional representation – in which multiple candidates are elected in each ward and voters rank candidates in order of preference.

For the third consecutive election, the Scottish National Party (SNP) were returned as the largest party with 14 seats but remained shy of an overall majority. Labour gained back some of the ground they had lost at the previous election and were again returned as the second-largest party with 10 seats. The Conservatives lost one-third of their seats to return four councillors while The Rubbish Party retained their only seat. Three independent candidates were also elected.

The minority SNP administration retained control of the council with incumbent council leader Cllr Douglas Reid re-elected to the post unopposed. Former SNP Provost Jim Todd and Depute Provost Claire Leitch were also reinstated less than a year after being voted out of the roles.

At the previous election in 2017, the Scottish National Party (SNP) again won the most seats and governed with a minority administration. Overall, the SNP lost one seat to hold 14. Labour lost five seats but were still the second largest party with nine councillors and the Conservatives made a net gain of four to hold six seats. Two independents were elected – up one – and The Rubbish Party - standing in its first election - had their first councillor elected.

2017 East Ayrshire Council election result

	Party	Seats	Vote share
	SNP	14	38.5%
	Labour	9	25.2%
	Conservatives	6	24.2%
	Independent	2	8.1%
	Rubbish	1	1.9%

Source:

The election used the nine wards created under the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004, with 32 councillors being elected. Each ward elected either 3 or 4 members, using the single transferable vote (STV) electoral system – a form of proportional representation – where candidates are ranked in order of preference.

No by-elections were held following the previous election in 2017. The only changes in the political composition of the council came when Councillor Ian Grant was expelled from the Conservative group and became an independent in February 2022 and when Councillor John Bell resigned from the SNP in March 2022.

Composition of East Ayrshire Council

	Party	2017 result	Dissolution
	SNP	14	13
	Labour	9	9
	Conservative	6	5
	Rubbish	1	1
	Independents	2	4

Retiring councillors

Ward		Party	Retiring councillor
Annick		SNP	Gordon Jenkins
Kilmarnock North		SNP	Helen Coffey
Kilmarnock West and Crosshouse		Conservative	Tom Cook
Kilmarnock East and Hurlford		SNP	Fiona Campbell
			John Campbell
Kilmarnock South		Labour	John Knapp
Irvine Valley		Labour	George Mair
		SNP	Elena Whitham
Ballochmyle		Labour	Neil McGhee
		SNP	Jim Roberts
Cumnock and New Cumnock		Conservative	Walter Young
Doon Valley		Labour	Elaine Dinwoodie

Source:

The total number of candidates fell from 63 in 2017 to 54. As was the case five years previous, the SNP fielded the highest number of candidates at 17 (one less than in 2017) across the nine wards. Both Labour and the Conservatives also fielded at least one candidate in every ward but the 11 candidates fielded by Labour were two less than in 2017 whereas the Conservatives maintained a total of nine candidates. Unlike the previous election, the Libertarians did not contest every ward after only one candidate was selected. The Greens only fielded one candidate, down from four in 2017 while The Rubbish Party maintained their number of candidates at one. The Liberal Democrats contested an election in East Ayrshire for the first time since 2012 as they fielded two candidates. As was the case in 2017, nine independent candidates stood for election and the Alba Party contested an election in East Ayrshire for the first time.

2022 East Ayrshire Council election result

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	SNP	14	1	1		43.7	37.9	15,767	0.6
	Labour	10	1	0	1	31.2	29.5	12,251	4.3
	Conservative	4	0	2	2	12.5	17.7	7,351	6.5
	Independent	3	1	0	1	9.3	11.4	4,730	3.3
	Rubbish	1	0	0		3.1	1.9	787
	Scottish Green	0	0	0		0.0	0.5	228	1.1
	Alba	0	0	0		0.0	0.5	227	New
	Liberal Democrats	0	0	0		0.0	0.4	183	New
	Scottish Libertarian	0	0	0		0.0	0.1	38	0.4
Total		32						41,562

Source:

Note: Votes are the sum of first preference votes across all council wards. The net gain/loss and percentage changes relate to the result of the previous Scottish local elections on 4 May 2017. This is because STV has an element of proportionality which is not present unless multiple seats are being elected. This may differ from other published sources showing gain/loss relative to seats held at the dissolution of Scotland's councils.

Results of the 2022 East Ayrshire Council election by ward

Ward	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	Total Cllrs
	SNP		Labour		Conservative		Rubbish		Others
Annick	33.1	1	19.1	1	24.5	1			23.2	1	4
Kilmarnock North	47.6	2	27.9	1	13.8	0			10.7	0	3
Kilmarnock West and Crosshouse	38.4	2	28.2	1	22.0	1			11.4	0	4
Kilmarnock East and Hurlford	37.2	2	38.5	1	12.1	0			12.2	1	4
Kilmarnock South	53.3	2	31.4	1	12.2	0			3.2	0	3
Irvine Valley	41.6	1	22.6	1	17.3	0	18.5	1			3
Ballochmyle	39.7	2	32.7	1	16.8	1			10.9	0	4
Cumnock and New Cumnock	33.9	1	41.2	2	18.5	1			2.4	0	4
Doon Valley	20.8	1	23.1	1	16.7	0			39.4	1	3
Total	37.9	14	29.5	10	17.7	4	1.9	1	12.9	3	32

Source:

Below is a list of seats which elected a different party or parties from 2017 in order to highlight the change in political composition of the council from the previous election. The list does not include defeated incumbents who resigned or defected from their party and subsequently failed re-election while the party held the seat.

Seats changing hands

Seat	2017			2022
	Party		Member	Party		Member
Kilmarnock North		Conservative	Ian Grant		SNP	David William Richardson
Kilmarnock East and Hurlford		Conservative	John Herd		Independent	Graham Boyd
Cumnock and New Cumnock		SNP	Jacqui Todd		Labour	June Kyle

Notes

The SNP, the Conservatives, Labour and independent candidate Ellen Freel held the seats they won at the previous election.

Annick – 4 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5
	Conservative	John McFadzean (incumbent)	24.5	1,516
	Labour	John McGhee (incumbent)	19.1	1,183	1,270
	SNP	Stephen Canning	16.9	1,048	1,052	1,054	1,139	2,086
	SNP	Wendy Hannah	16.1	998	1,004	1,007	1,063
	Independent	Ellen Freel (incumbent)	13.1	812	872	883	1,216	1,274
	Independent	John Cairns	10.1	627	666	672
Electorate: 12,530   Valid: 6,184   Spoilt: 80   Quota: 1,237   Turnout: 50.0%

Source:

The SNP and Labour retained the seats they had won at the previous election while the Conservatives lost their only seat to the SNP. Independent candidate Ian Grant was elected as a Conservative candidate in 2017 but was later expelled from the party.

Kilmarnock North – 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	SNP	Elaine Cowan	38.2	1,483
	Labour	Maureen McKay (incumbent)	27.9	1,084
	Conservative	Allan MacDonald	13.8	536	542	566	574	713
	SNP	David William Richardson	9.4	364	788	804	855	939	1,035
	Independent	Ian Grant (incumbent)	8.1	316	343	366	397
	Alba	Wendy MacDonald	2.6	99	113	119
Electorate: 9,748   Valid: 3,882   Spoilt: 53   Quota: 971   Turnout: 40.4%

Source:

The SNP (2), Labour (1) and the Conservatives (1) retained the seats they had won at the previous election.

Kilmarnock West and Crosshouse – 4 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4
	Labour	Lillian Jones (incumbent)	28.2	1,662
	Conservative	James Adams	22.0	1,297
	SNP	Iain Linton (incumbent)	19.8	1,168	1,219
	SNP	Douglas Reid (incumbent)	18.6	1,093	1,142	1,149	1,182
	Independent	Frank McNiff	6.3	369	475	516	517
	Scottish Green	Elizabeth Brown	3.9	228	299	308	312
	Alba	Guy Njali Bola	1.2	71	81	82	83
Electorate: 13,347   Valid: 5,888   Spoilt: 70   Quota: 1,178   Turnout: 44.6%

Source:

The SNP (2) and Labour (1) retained the seats they won in the previous election while the Conservatives lost their only seat to independent candidate Graham Boyd.

Kilmarnock East and Hurlford – 4 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5
	Labour	Barry Douglas (incumbent)	38.5	2,053
	SNP	Graham Barton	28.2	1,501
	Conservative	Jon Herd (incumbent)	12.1	645	796	798	854
	Independent	Graham Boyd	10.8	574	776	799	879	1,288
	SNP	Neal Ingram	9.0	481	616	983	1,000	1,030
	Liberal Democrats	Trevor Grant	1.4	74	209	218
Electorate: 12,370   Valid: 5,328   Spoilt: 69   Quota: 1,066   Turnout: 43.6%

Source:

The SNP (2) and Labour (1) retained the seats they won at the previous election

Kilmarnock South – 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2
	SNP	Jim Todd (incumbent)	32.6	990
	Labour	Peter Mabon	31.4	954
	SNP	Claire Maitland (incumbent)	20.7	627	828
	Conservative	Robin Bawa	12.2	370	374
	Alba	Stewart John McLintock	1.9	57	62
	Scottish Libertarian	Keyrin James Von-Döring	1.3	38	40
Electorate: 8,186   Valid: 3,036   Spoilt: 67   Quota: 760   Turnout: 37.9%

Source:

The SNP, Labour and the Rubbish Party retained the seats they won at the previous election

Irvine Valley – 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5
	SNP	Beverley Michele Clark	30.8	1,309
	Labour	Kevin McGregor	22.6	962	974	1,153
	Rubbish	Sally Cogley (incumbent)	18.5	787	801	982	1,017	1,547
	Conservative	Susan McFadzean	17.3	737	739	763	782
	SNP	Lee-Anne Margaret To	10.8	461	667
Electorate: 9,797   Valid: 4,256   Spoilt: 46   Quota: 1,065   Turnout: 43.9%

Source:

The SNP (2), Labour (1) and the Conservatives (1) retained the seats they won at the previous election.

Ballochmyle – 4 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	SNP	Claire Leitch (incumbent)	28.0	1,301
	Labour	Linda Holland	23.4	1,085
	Conservative	Alyson Simmons (incumbent)	16.8	779	781	786	912	914	1,112
	SNP	William Lennox	11.7	542	863	869	981
	Independent	David Shaw	10.9	507	522	532
	Labour	Stephen McCarron	9.3	432	444	565	691	706
Electorate: 11,193   Valid: 4,646   Spoilt: 100   Quota: 930   Turnout: 42.4%

Source:

Labour and the Conservatives retained the seats they won at the previous election while the SNP retained one seat and lost one seat to Labour.

Cumnock and New Cumnock – 4 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5
	Labour	Billy Crawford (incumbent)	30.1	1,349
	SNP	Jim McMahon (incumbent)	20.0	897
	Conservative	Neill Watts	18.5	827	847	858	858	915
	SNP	Jacqui Todd (incumbent)	15.7	701	714	723	724	752
	Labour	June Kyle	13.2	593	961
	Liberal Democrats	Fraser Wright	2.4	109	114	127	127
Electorate: 11,044   Valid: 4,476   Spoilt: 116   Quota: 896   Turnout: 41.6%

Source:

Independent candidate Drew Filson, Labour and the SNP held the seats they won at the previous election. Independent candidate John Bell was elected as an SNP candidate in 2017 but he later resigned from the party.

Doon Valley – 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	Independent	Drew Filson (incumbent)	27.9	1,077
	Labour	Elaine Stewart	23.1	894	929	974
	SNP	Jennifer Hogg	20.8	803	817	826	827	927	1,074
	Conservative	Samantha Hainey	16.7	644	651	681	682	780
	Independent	John Bell (incumbent)	8.0	311	333	373	375
	Independent	Murray Hendrie	3.5	137	146
Electorate: 8,932   Valid: 3,866   Spoilt: 59   Quota: 967   Turnout: 43.9%

Source:

The SNP, who have run East Ayrshire Council since forming an administration as a result of the 2007 election, retained control of the council. It was reported that the party had been worried they would lose control of the council – as was the case in other councils across Scotland where unionist parties had voted together to prevent nationalist leadership – but the Labour and Conservative groups didn't oppose Cllr Douglas Reid's re-election as council leader. Provost Jim Todd and Depute Provost Claire Leitch were reinstated to their roles despite Labour and the Conservatives putting forward candidates for the roles however, the two parties did not support each other. The pair had been voted out in June 2021 when the opposition parties had voted together to have the leadership roles of the council shared more evenly across the council reflecting the fact the SNP administration was a minority administration.

Former Conservative group leader Tom Cook stood down at the 2022 election. He was replaced in the role by Annick councillor John McFadzean.

In October 2024, Provost Todd announced "with regret" that he would stand down as Provost due to "personal circumstances". He was replaced in the role by Deputy Provost Leitch and, in turn, Cllr John McGee was elected as Provost Leitch's replacement as Deputy Provost.

Following their successful campaigns during the 2024 United Kingdom general election, Kilmarnock West and Crosshouse councillor Lillian Jones and Doon Valley councillor Elaine Stewart - who were elected as MP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun and Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock respectively - announced that they had resigned their council seats in September 2024. By-elections, held on 14 November 2024, were won by Labour candidates Jim Kyle and Jayne Sangster.

Doon Valley by-election (14 November 2024) – 1 seat

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	Labour	Jim Kyle	32.2	516	516	523	537	569	699	826
	Conservative	Tracey Clark	25.5	410	411	412	423	475	506
	SNP	Lorraine Pollock	23.7	379	379	391	400	432
	Independent	Jim Ireland	10.7	172	175	179	195
	Liberal Democrats	Trevor Grant	4.2	68	68	77
	Scottish Green	Korin Matthew Vallance	3.0	48	49
	Independent	Stef McNamara	0.5	9
Electorate: 8,763   Valid: 1,602   Spoilt: 27   Quota: 802   Turnout: 18.6%

Source:

Kilmarnock West and Crosshouse by-election (14 November 2024) – 1 seat

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5
	Labour	Jayne Sangster	39.4	1,213	1,225	1,276	1,468	1,935
	SNP	Marie Robertson	33.3	1,025	1,032	1,060	1,127
	Conservative	Allan MacDonald	20.2	623	635	675
	Liberal Democrats	Lee Manley	38.1	145	162
	Independent	Stephen McNamara	2.4	75
Electorate: 13,260   Valid: 3,081   Spoilt: 28   Quota: 1,541   Turnout: 23.4%

Source: