Conservatives in East Renfrewshire expect another SNP-Labour coalition to run the council after blaming “national events” for their own performance.
The party retained five councillors on East Renfrewshire Council in Thursday’s election but group leader Gordon Wallace said he was “disappointed” to not achieve the results he had hoped for.
SNP group leader Tony Buchanan confirmed on Friday that talks would take place this week over a coalition.
The SNP, Labour and independent councillor Danny Devlin have ruled together over the last two terms.
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar dismissed the idea of formal coalitions with opposition parties, including the SNP and the Conservatives, ahead of last week’s ballot.
The Conservatives lost seats across the UK, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s role in the Partygate scandal being blamed by some observers.
Councillor Wallace, who was re-elected to represent Giffnock and Thornliebank, said: “This was not the result we were hoping for in East Renfrewshire but, as with Scottish Conservative colleagues up and down Scotland, our performance was impacted by national events beyond our control.
“That said, we went into this election with five Scottish Conservative councillors and came out with five.
“All our candidates worked extremely hard throughout this campaign and, while disappointed that we didn’t manage to get the results we had hoped for, we will reflect on this, learn lessons and come back stronger next time.
“Sadly for the people of East Renfrewshire, it’s likely there will be another Labour-SNP coalition, despite Anas Sarwar’s pre-election assurance that his party would not prop up the Nationalists, and that will lead to our roads deteriorating further and even more housing developments on greenbelt land being nodded through.”
Labour also returned five councillors in East Renfrewshire, while the SNP secured six – becoming the largest party on the council for the first time.
Danny Devlin and David Macdonald, both independents, took the other two seats.
Tens of thousands of votes were cast across East Renfrewshire, with a turnout of 53.4 per cent.
Many of these were postal votes that were returned well before the polls opened at 7am on Thursday.
The final results were announced on Friday, with Councillor Buchanan – the council leader for the past five years – hailing the SNP’s performance as “historic.”
“For the first time, we are the largest party on the council, with six fantastic councillors,” he added. “The result is a strong rejection of Boris Johnson’s Tories and a clear endorsement of our positive vision for a fairer, greener East Renfrewshire.
“It gives us a strong mandate to continue delivering for people across East Renfrewshire as the leading partner in a new administration.”
All five Labour candidates who stood for election on Thursday will take their place in the council chamber.
Paul O’Kane, Labour MSP for West Scotland and deputy leader of East Renfrewshire Council until his election to Holyrood last year, hailed the result as “real progress” for his party.
He said: “Every Labour candidate was elected. We held four and gained in Newton Mearns South and Eaglesham.”
Mr O’Kane also said the five Labour councillors will “work very hard” and “do what’s right for the people of East Renfrewshire.”
This term, they will be focused on the completion of ongoing capital projects, such as the planned multi-million pound Eastwood Leisure Centre, and on addressing the cost-of-living crisis, he added.
East Renfrewshire’s Conservatives had the most candidates standing, with eight in total.
Greg Turner, who was representing the Conservatives in Barrhead, Liboside and Uplawmoor, was no longer being supported by the party after it emerged he had made anti-Catholic posts online.
Voters had their say too, as he failed to gather enough votes to secure one of the four seats up for grabs in the council chamber.
Paul Aitken, who had served as an Independent in the previous council term, also missed out in the Barrhead, Liboside and Uplawmoor ward this time around.
Details of the number of votes won by each candidate in the five wards are available online at www.eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk/local-election-results-2022.
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