Politics of Aberdeen Totally Explained

Everything about Aberdeen City Council totally explained

The Politics of Aberdeen, Scotland have changed significantly in recent years. In 1996, under the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994, Grampian Regional Council was dissolved, creating the new unitary Aberdeen City Council to represent the city's council area. Aberdeen City Council no longer has any direct control over the neighbouring area of Aberdeenshire, although the headquarters of Aberdeenshire Council remain located within the city.

Aberdeen City Council

Aberdeen City Council represents the Aberdeen City council area of Scotland.
The council area was created in 1996, under the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994. However, a sense of Aberdeen as a city, with its own city council, can be traced back to 1900, when the city of county of Aberdeen was created. In 1975, under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, the county of city was combined with Bucksburn, Newhills, Old Machar, Stoneywood, Dyce and Peterculter areas of the county of Aberdeen and a Nigg area of the county of Kincardine (including Cove Bay) to form the Aberdeen district of the Grampian region. This district became the now existing unitary council area in 1996.
On 9th May 1995 by resolution under section 23 of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 The City of Aberdeen Council changed the name of the local government area of "City of Aberdeen" to "Aberdeen City".

Composition

Between 2003 and 2007 the council was under the control of a Liberal Democrat and Conservative coalition, holding 23 of the 43 seats on the council. Prior to the 2003 election, the council had been considered a Labour stronghold. Following the May 2007 election, contested for the first time using a system of proportional representation, the Liberal Democrats and Scottish National Party (SNP) formed a coalition to run the council, holding 27 of the 43 seats (following an SNP by election gain from the Conservatives on 16 August 2007, the Lib Dem/SNP coalition now hold 28 of the 43 seats).
Aberdeen City Council comprises forty-three councillors who represent the city's wards and is headed by the Lord Provost who is currently Provost Peter Stephen. Current political composition: (+/- by election changes since May 2007 election)

Liberal Democrat - 15 councillors
Scottish National Party - 13 councillors (+1)
Labour - 10 councillors
Conservative - 4 councillors (-1)
Independent - 1 councillor

New wards from May 2007

Before May 2007, councillors represented 43 single-member wards, but since then,all seats were contested by a different electoral system. On May 5th 2007, it was the first election to use the single transferable vote system of election and multi-member wards, each ward electing three or four councillors. The Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland completed its final recommendations for new wards for all the council areas of Scotland and for Aberdeen there will be 13 multi-member wards with a total of 43 councillors. This system was introduced as a result of the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004, and is designed to produce a form of proportional representation.
The composition of wards have changed to:
3 councillors:

(11) Airyhall/Broomhill/Garthdee

(8) George Street/Harbour

(5) Hilton/Stockethill

(13) Kincorth/Loirston

(3) Kingswells/Sheddocksley

(9) Lower Deeside

(7) Midstocket/Rosemount

(4) Northfield

(6) Tillydrone/Hilton/Old Aberdeen 4 councillors:

(2) Bridge of Don

(1) Dyce/Bucksburn/Danestone

(10) Hazlehead/Ashley/Queens Cross

(12) Torry/Ferryhill The most recent results from this election were as followed:

Ward	Councillors	Party
Dyce / Bucksburn / Danestone	Ron Clark	Liberal Democrat
	Barney Crocket	Labour
	Mark McDonald	Scottish National Party
	George Penny	Liberal Democrat
Bridge of Don	Muriel Jaffrey	Scottish National Party
	Gordon Leslie	Liberal Democrat
	John Reynolds	Liberal Democrat
	Willie Young	Labour
KingsWells / Sheddocksley	Len Ironside	Labour
	Peter Stephen	Liberal Democrat
	Wendy Stuart	Scottish National Party
Northfield	Jackie Dunbar	Scottish National Party
	Gordon Graham	Labour
	Kevin Stewart	Scottish National Party
Hilton / Stockethill	George Adam	Labour
	Neil Fletcher	Liberal Democrat
	Kirsty West	Scottish National Party
Tillydrone / Seaton / Old Aberdeen	Norman Collie	Labour
	Jim Noble	Scottish National Party
	Richard Robinson	Liberal Democrat
Midstocket / Rosemount	Bill Cormie	Scottish National Party
	Jenny Laing	Labour
	John Corral	Scottish National Party
George Street / Harbour	Andy May	Scottish National Party
	Jim Hunter	Labour
	John Stewart	Liberal Democrat
Lower Deeside	Mary Boulton	Independent
	Aileen Malone	Liberal Democrat
	Alan Milne	Conservative
Hazlehead / Ashely / Queen's Cross	Jim Farquharson	Conservative
	Martin Greig	Liberal Democrat
	Jennifer Stewart	Liberal Democrat
	John West	Scottish National Party
Airyhall / Broomhill / Garthdee	Scott Cassie	Liberal Democrat
	Jim Wisely	Conservative
	Ian Yuill	Liberal Democrat
Torry / Ferryhill	Yvonne Allan	Labour
	Irene Cormack	Liberal Democrat
	Alan Donnelly	Conservative
	Jim Kiddle	Scottish National Party
Kincorth / Loirston	Neil Cooney	Labour
	Katherine Dean	Liberal Democrat
	Callum McCaig	Scottish National Party
Source: (External Link)

Composition (before May 2007)

The previous composition of 43 wards while using the standard First Past the Post voting system. Their representative counsellors and political parties were:

	Party	Ward	Councillor
	Liberal Democrat	(34) Ashley	Martin Greig
	Scottish National Party	(9) Auchmill	Kevin Stewart
	Labour	(2) Bankhead and Stoneywood	Brian Rattary
	Liberal Democrat	(21) Berryden	John Stewart
	Liberal Democrat	(6) Bridge of Don	Millicent McLeod
	Liberal Democrat	(35) Broomhill	Ian Yuill
	Labour	(28) Castlehill	James Hunter
	Liberal Democrat	(32) Cults	Aileen Malone
	Labour	(10) Cummings Park	Gordon Graham
	Liberal Democrat	(3) Danestone	Raymond Hutcheon
	Scottish National Party	(7) Donmouth	Muriel Jaffrey
	Liberal Democrat	(38) Duthie	Irene Cormack
	Liberal Democrat	(37) Dyce	Ronald Clark
	Liberal Democrat	(36) Garthdee	Scott Cassie
	Liberal Democrat	(26) Gilcomston	Alison Smith
	Liberal Democrat	(29) Hazlehead	Karen Freel
	Labour	(15) Hilton	George Adam
	Liberal Democrat	(37) Holburn	David Falconer
	Liberal Democrat	(4) Jesmond	Gordon Leslie
	Labour	(42) Kincorth East	George Urquhart
	Independent	(41) Kincorth West	David Clyne
	Liberal Democrat	(19) Kittybrewster	Neil Fletcher
	Liberal Democrat	(27) Langstane	Steve Delaney
	Liberal Democrat	(43) Loirston	Katherine Dean
	Conservative	(33) Mannofield	Jillian Wisely
	Labour	(12) Mastrick	Ramsey Milne
	Conservative	(24 ) Midstocket	John Porter
	Liberal Democrat	(31) Murtle	Matthew Duncan
	Liberal Democrat	(8) Newhills	Peter Stephen
	Liberal Democrat	(5) Oldmachar	John Reynolds
	Liberal Democrat	(30) Peterculter	Pamela MacDonald
	Labour	(23) Pittodrie	Ronald Webster
	Conservative	(25) Queens Cross	Brenda Craig
	Labour	(18) Seaton	Norman Collie
	Labour	(13) Sheddocksley	James Lamond
	Scottish National Party	(11) Springhill	Karen Shirron
	Labour	(17) St. Machar	Sandra Macdonald
	Labour	(20) Stockethill	June Lamond
	Labour	(14) Summerhill	Leonard Ironside
	Scottish National Party	(22) Sunnybank	Andrew May
	Labour	(39) Torry	Yvonne Allan
	Scottish National Party	(40) Tullos	James Kiddie
	Scottish National Party	(16) Woodside & Tillydrone	Alan Gowers
Source: Aberdeen City Council

UK Parliament

In the United Kingdom Parliament, the city is divided between three constituencies:

Party	Constituency	Member
Labour	Aberdeen North	Frank Doran
Labour	Aberdeen South	Anne Begg
Liberal Democrat	Gordon	Malcolm Bruce

Scottish Parliament

There are three Scottish Parliament constituencies that overlap the Aberdeen City Council area in the North East Scotland electoral region:

Party	Constituency	Member
Labour	Aberdeen Central	Lewis Macdonald
Scottish National Party	Aberdeen North	Brian Adam
Liberal Democrat	Aberdeen South	Nicol Stephen

Other MSPs in the North East Scotland electoral region (but selected by the Additional Member proportional representation system, and not in constituencies overlapping Aberdeen City or the Aberdeen City Council area) are:

	Party	Members
	Labour	Richard Baker
	Scottish National Party	Nigel Don
	Labour	Marlyn Glen
	Conservative	Alex Johnstone
	Liberal Democrat	Alison McInnes
	Conservative	Nanette Milne
	Scottish National Party	Maureen Watt

European Parliament

In the European Parliament, Scotland as a whole (and therefore Aberdeen) is represented by seven MEPs:

	Party	Members
	Liberal Democrat	Elspeth Attwooll
	Scottish National Party	Ian Hudghton
	Labour	David Martin
	Conservative	John Purvis
	Scottish National Party	Alyn Smith
	Conservative	Struan Stevenson
	Labour	Catherine Stihler

Twinned cities

Aberdeen is twinned with several cities across Europe and throughout the rest of the world. These include:

- Regensburg, Germany

- Clermont-Ferrand, France

- Stavanger, Norway

- Gomel, Belarus

- Bulawayo, Zimbabwe

Further Information

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