THE Conservatives have taken over from Labour as the leading party on East Renfrewshire Council.

A total of seven Tory councillors have been elected - one more than the party managed in the 2012 local authority elections.

And the SNP secured five seats - pushing Labour into third place.

However, no single party secured an overall majority.

The Nationalists won four seats in 2012, while the number of Labour councillors has been halved from eight to just four.

Filling the remaining two seats in the council chamber will be two Independent members - Danny Devlin and David MacDonald.

Paul Aitken becomes the first Tory councillor to represent Barrhead for a quarter of a century.

He received the second-highest number of first preference votes in the Barrhead, Liboside and Uplawmoor ward.

The last Conservative candidate to be elected to represent Barrhead was Jannette Muir, who was voted onto Renfrewshire Council in 1992, before East Renfrewshire came into existence as a local authority four years later.

First-time candidate Angela Convery has taken SNP colleague Tommy Reilly's seat in Barrhead, while Labour's Kenny Hay failed to retain his seat in the same ward.

In the Newton Mearns North and Neilston ward, the same three councillors - Tony Buchanan (SNP), Paul O'Kane (Labour) and Charlie Gilbert (Conservatives) - retained their seats.

The successful candidates in the five East Renfrewshire wards were:

Ward 1 - Barrhead, Liboside and Uplawmoor

Danny Devlin (Independent)

Paul Aitken (Conservative)

Angela Convery (SNP)

Betty Cunningham (Labour)

Ward 2 - Newton Mearns North and Neilston

Tony Buchanan (SNP)

Paul O'Kane (Labour)

Charlie Gilbert (Conservative)

Ward 3 - Giffnock and Thornliebank

Colm Merrick (SNP)

Jim Fletcher (Labour)

Gordon Wallace (Conservative)

Ward 4 - Clarkston, Netherlee and Williamwood

Alan Lafferty (Labour)

Annette Ireland (SNP)

David MacDonald (Independent)

Stewart Miller (Conservative)

Ward 5 - Newton Mearns South and Eaglesham

Caroline Bamforth (SNP)

Barbara Grant (Conservative)

Jim Mclean (Conservative)

Jim Swift (Conservative)