2017 Shetland Islands Council election

Elections to Shetland Islands Council were held on 4 May 2017 on the same day as the other Scottish local government elections. The election was the third using seven wards created as a results of the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004, each ward electing three or four Councillors using the single transferable vote system a form of proportional representation, with 22 Councillors elected.

2017 Shetland Islands Council election

4 May 2017
All 22 seats to Shetland Islands Council 12 seats needed for a majority
Leader Gary Robinson Robbie McGregor Party Independent SNP Leader's seat Shetland West Shetland South Last election 22 seats, 100% 0 seats, 1.9% Seats before 22 0 Seats after 21 1 Seat change 1 1
Map of council wards
Council Leader before election Gary Robinson Independent Council Leader after election Cecil Smith Independent

With the Shetland South ward going uncontested, the SNP elected its first councillor in Shetland.

Several members of the pro-Shetland Autonomy Wir Shetland group stood in the election; Ian Tinkler in Shetland West, and Alec Priest and Duncan Simpson in North Isles.[1][2] Former Wir Shetland member Ryan Thomson also stood in North Isles. Whilst having left the group, it was claimed by the Wir Shetland Chairman that Thomson still supported the groups core aims.[1] Other candidates with political positions of note included socialist Ian Scott and former Yes Scotland and Scottish Leave Left campaigner Brian Nugent in central ward.[3] Nugent is an SNP member and claimed to be standing as an independent solely due to having applied too late to use the SNP party name in the election.[4] Two paper candidates for the Conservatives also stood.[5]

Election results

Shetland Islands Local Election Result 2017

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Independent	21	0	1	1	95.5	97.8	7132	0.9
	SNP	1	1	0	1	4.5	0.0	0	N/A
	Ind. (Scottish Nationalist)	0				0	1.2	84	1.2
	Conservative	0				0	1	74	1

Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes. The net gain/loss and percentage changes relate to the result of the previous Scottish local elections on 3 May 2012. This may differ from other published sources showing gain/loss relative to seats held at dissolution of Scotland's councils.

Ward results

North Isles

• 2012: 3xIndependent
• 2017: 3xIndependent
• 2012-2017 Change: no change

North Isles - 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2
	Independent	Duncan Simpson	31.2	453
	Independent	Ryan Thomson	26.3	372
	Independent	Alec Priest	23.1	327	375.08
	Independent	Cecil Hughson	13.1	185	210.57
	Independent	Lynsay Cunningham	5.4	76	81.68

Shetland North

• 2012: 3xIndependent
• 2017: 3xIndependent
• 2012-2017 Change: no change

Shetland North - 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2
	Independent	Andrea Manson (incumbent)	42.7	509
	Independent	Alastair Cooper (incumbent)	33.1	395
	Independent	Emma Macdonald	20.1	240	379.04
	Conservative	Isobel Johnson	4.0	48	70.28

Shetland West

• 2012: 3xIndependent
• 2017: 3xIndependent
• 2012-2017 Change: no change

Shetland West - 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4
	Independent	Theo Smith (incumbent)	42.5	521
	Independent	Catherine Hughson	15.8	194	255.61	274.72	320.47
	Independent	Gary Robinson (incumbent)	14.6	179	204.47	209.29	217.57
	Independent	Steven Coutts (incumbent)	14.3	175	251.40	275.92	325.47
	Independent	Debra Nicolson	6.6	81	107.29	132.81
	Independent	Ian Tinkler	6.1	75	90.61

Shetland Central

• 2012: 3xIndependent
• 2017: 3xIndependent
• 2012-2017 Change: no change

Shetland Central - 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4
	Independent	Davie Sandison (incumbent)	32.9	320
	Independent	Mark Burgess (incumbent)	26.7	260
	Independent	Ian Scott	19.6	191	214.04	217.18	263.52
	Independent	Julie Buchan	12.1	118	139.61	146.87	169.40
	Independent nationalist	Brian Nugent	8.6	84	93.26	95.79

Shetland South

• 2012: 3xIndependent
• 2017: 2xIndependent, 1xScottish National Party
• 2012-2017 Change: SNP gain one seat from Independent

Shetland South - 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1
	Independent	Allison Duncan (incumbent)	uncontested	uncontested
	SNP	Robbie McGregor	uncontested	uncontested
	Independent	George Smith (incumbent)	uncontested	uncontested

Lerwick North

• 2012: 3xIndependent
• 2017: 3xIndependent
• 2012-2017 Change: 3xIndependent

Lerwick North - 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3
	Independent	Malcolm Bell (incumbent)	71.9	715
	Independent	Stephen Leask	13.2	130	337.25
	Independent	John Fraser	12.4	124	243.92	287.73
	Conservative	Thomas Williamson	2.6	26	54.68	68.93

Lerwick South

• 2012: 4xIndependent
• 2017: 4xIndependent
• 2012-2017: no change

Lerwick South - 4 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4
	Independent	Cecil Smith (incumbent)	28.8	429
	Independent	Beatrice Wishart†	26.4	394
	Independent	Peter Campbell (incumbent)	20.0	299
	Independent	Amanda Westlake (incumbent)	12.7	190	242.42	271.12	408.83
	Independent	Frances Valente	12.1	180	220.61	268.35

Retiring Councillors

Council Ward	Departing Councillor	Party
Shetland North	Gary Cleaver		Independent
Shetland South	Billy Fox		Independent
North Isles	Robert Henderson		Independent
Shetland North	Drew Ratter		Independent
Shetland West	Frank Robertson		Independent
Lerwick North	Michael Stout		Independent
Shetland Central	Vaila Wishart		Independent
Lerwick North	Allan Wishart		Independent
Lerwick South	Jonathan Wills		Independent

Changes Since 2017

• † Lerwick South Independent Beatrice Wishart was subsequently elected as Member of the Scottish Parliament for Shetland at the 2019 Shetland by-election as a Liberal Democrat. A by-election was held on 7 November 2019. It was held by Independent Stephen Flaws.
• †† Shetland Central Independent Mark Burgess resigned his seat on 20 September 2019 for personal reasons. A by-election was held on 7 November 2019. The seat was retained by another Independent Moraig Lyall.

By-elections since 2017

Shetland Central By-election (7 November 2019)

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1
	Independent	Moraig Lyall	47.0	344
	Independent	Julie Buchan	15.8	116
	SNP	Stewart Douglas	15.2	111
	Independent	Gordon Laverie	11.5	84
	Independent	Johan Adamson	10.5	77

Footnotes

1. "Candidate Tinkler steps down from Wir Shetland committee". The Shetland Times. 9 December 2016.
2. "Two more candidates declare". Shetland News.
3. Riddell, Neil (29 March 2017). "Names of 32 SIC election candidates unveiled". Shetland News.
4. http://www.shetnews.co.uk/features/election-2017/candidates/14327-brian-nugent
5. http://www.shetlandtimes.co.uk/2017/04/21/dont-back-says-tory-sic-paper-candidate-lerwick-north