North Lanarkshire Council 2022

North Lanarkshire is in many respects the archetypical Central Belt council, historically heavily industrialised, and particularly renowned for the massive steelworks at Ravenscraig in Motherwell. That heyday has long since passed but still defines the character of the area, a truly modern creation bringing together what were in the previous model the Cumbernauld and Kilsyth (historically parts of Dunbartonshire and Stirlingshire), Motherwell (and thus Wishaw) and Monklands (Coatbridge and Airdrie, basically) districts, plus the Chryston area of Strathkelvin.

As part of the historic and incredibly shaped East Dunbartonshire constituency, Cumbernauld elected a Conservative then an SNP MP in 1974’s double elections, but otherwise what is now North Lanarkshire was solidly Labour for decades. The first breach of that in recent years came with SNP success in constituencies covering Cumbernauld and Airdrie in the 2011 Scottish Parliament election, followed by them sweeping the whole area in both 2015 (UK) and 2016 (Scottish) elections. Labour briefly regained the Coatbridge and Chryston seat in 2017 before losing it again in 2019.

Mirroring SNP success in the constituency in 1974, the Cumbernauld and Kilsyth District Council was the SNP’s only majority controlled council that year, which they held in 1977 before losing to Labour in 1980. The other two districts were, unsurprisingly, dominated by Labour for their entire existence. When North Lanarkshire was formed in the mid-90’s, though Labour remained heavily favoured, the SNP nonetheless showed a clear base of support in Cumbernauld through the FPTP era.