Aberdeenshire Council 2022

Bringing together vast stretches of farmland, a dizzying number of traditional fishing communities, and plenty of Aberdeen dormitory towns, Aberdeenshire is one of those ginormous Scottish councils that it would be funny trying to pass off as “local” government if it wasn’t so embarrassing. Despite the name this modern incarnation doesn’t simply cover the historic county of Aberdeenshire, but has absorbed Kincardineshire and a large chunk of Banffshire, including Banff itself. Under the old District and Region model, it consisted of three parts – Gordon, Banff & Buchan, and Kincardine & Deeside.

At parliamentary level the area was typically strongly Conservative, until in the 1974 elections the SNP won the areas now covered by Banff and Buchan. Though the Conservative reclaimed them in 1979, the SNP took a much tighter hold in 1987. By this point the Lib Dems had also taken Gordon, and would take the remainder of Aberdeenshire and Kincardine in 1997. In 2015 the SNP took all Aberdeenshire seats, then lost them all to the Conservatives in 2017, and narrowly regained Gordon in 2019. Holyrood initially mirrored Westminster, though the SNP took Gordon by 2007, the whole area in 2011, and lost Aberdeenshire West to the Conservatives in 2016.

Throughout the district era each of the three were heavily Independent, though Gordon took a brief Liberal spell in 1988, and the final Kincardine and Deeside election saw an Independent-Conservative tie. The newly formed Aberdeenshire started with an SNP-Lib Dem tie, with Independents not far behind, and then the Lib Dems took a clearer lead for the last two FPTP elections.