2022 Highland Council election

2022 Highland Council election

← 2017 5 May 2022 (2022-05-05) 2027 →
All 74 seats to The Highland Council 38 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	47.4%[note 1]
First party Second party Third party   SNP Ind LD Leader Raymond Bremner Margaret Davidson[note 2] Alasdair Christie Party SNP Independent Liberal Democrats Leader's seat Wick and East Caithness Aird and Loch Ness (stood down) Inverness Ness-side Last election 22 seats, 24.9% 28 seats, 36.1% 10 seats, 12.9% Seats before 19 28[note 3] 11 Seats won 22 21 15 Seat change 7 5 Popular vote 25,915 22,035 16,920 Percentage 30.1% 25.6% 19.7% Swing 5.2% 10.5% 6.8%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Con Lab Leader Andrew Jarvie Chris Ballance Jimmy Gray Party Conservative Scottish Green Labour Leader's seat Wick and East Caithness Aird and Loch Ness Inverness Millburn (stood down) Last election 10 seats, 15.7% 1 seats, 3.1% 3 seats, 6.9% Seats before 10 1 3 Seats won 10 4 2 Seat change 3 1 Popular vote 12,544 3,459 4,308 Percentage 14.6% 4.0% 5.0% Swing 1.1% 0.9% 1.9%
Leader before election Margaret Davidson (Independent) No overall control Leader after election Raymond Bremner (SNP) No overall control

Elections to The Highland Council were held on 5 May 2022, 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 first time, a political party won the most seats in a Highland Council election as the Scottish National Party (SNP) replaced independent councillors as the largest group on the council after winning 22 seats. In total, 21 independents were elected. The Liberal Democrats gained five seats to hold 15 while the Conservatives matched their record-breaking performance at the 2017 election by holding 10 seats. The Greens overtook Labour to become the fifth-largest group on the council after gaining three seats to hold four. Labour lost one seat to hold two.

Following the election, the SNP and independent groups formed a coalition to run the council.
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