1971 Edinburgh Corporation election

1971 Edinburgh Corporation election
23 of the 69 seats to the Edinburgh Corporation; 35 seats needed for a majority
	Results by ward.
Council control before election; ; No overall control	Council control after election ; ; No overall control

An election to Edinburgh Corporation was held on 4 May 1971, alongside municipal elections across Scotland. Of the council's 68 seats, 23 were up for election.

Following the election, Edinburgh Corporation was composed of 28 Labour councillors, 27 Progressives, 9 Conservatives, 3 Liberals, and 2 independents. The SNP was wiped off the council after lost all five of the seats it was defending.

Following the election, the Progressives and Conservative coalition retained control of the council with a majority of three seats.

A total of 125,045 residents voted.

Aggregate results

Edinburgh Corporation election, 1971
	Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes
Labour	10	7	0	7	43.5	42.7	53,439
Progressives	8	0	5	5	34.8	27.1	33,906
Conservative	4	2	0	2	17.4	17.7	22,147
Liberal	1	1	0	1	4.3	7.5	9,409
SNP	0	0	5	5	0.0	4.4	5,481
Communist	0	0	0		0.0	0.2	273
Protestant Action	0	0	0		0.0	0.2	217
Local Community	0	0	0		0.0	0.1	173

Ward Results

Location of Broughton ward

Broughton
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Progressives	G. A. Theurer	2,407
	Labour	R. Cairns	1,784
Majority
Turnout				34.08%
	Progressives hold

Location of Calton ward

Calton
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	J. Anderson	1,874
	Conservative	Margaret E. S. Houston	1,774
Majority
Turnout				35.32%
	Labour gain from SNP

Location of Central Leith ward

Central Leith
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	R. Brown	2,210
	SNP	F. T. Chalmers	714
	Conservative	J. Whyte	677
	Communist	L. Farquhar	26
Majority
Turnout				32.81%
	Labour gain from SNP

Location of Colinton ward

Colinton
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	J. D. MacLennan	3,568
	Labour	R. B. Graham	3,475
	Progressives	J. Dalgleish	2,221
	SNP	Joan B. Crawford	955
Majority
Turnout				41.86%
	Conservative gain from Progressives

Location of Corstorphine ward

Corstorphine
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Progressives	F. Ford	2,508
	Conservative	T. W. Norrish	1,925
	Liberal	D. C. E. Gorrie	1,678
	Labour	P. R. Wallington	1,436
Majority
Turnout				42.32%
	Progressives hold

Location of Craigentinny ward

Craigentinny
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	G. Drummond	3,731
	Conservative	A. Hogg	2,204
	Communist	T. Burns	108
Majority
Turnout				40.06%
	Labour hold

Location of Craigmillar ward

Craigmillar
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	D. H. Brown	3,831
	SNP	J. Wallace	932
Majority
Turnout				30.51%
	Labour hold

Location of George Square ward

George Square
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	D. F. Alves	1,529
	Labour	I. R. Hoy	1,141
Majority
Turnout				26.51%
	Conservative gain from Progressives

Location of Gorgie-Dalry ward

Gorgie-Dalry
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Johan G. W. Buchanan	2,628
	Conservative	J. I. Chisholm	1,452
	SNP	E. J. Milne	756
Majority
Turnout				35.41%
	Labour gain from SNP

Location of Holyrood ward

Holyrood
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	R. F. Cook	1,599
	Conservative	D. Christison	489
	SNP	A. McCallum	235
	Communist	Angela Hopkinson	58
Majority
Turnout				34.89%
	Labour gain from SNP

Location of Liberton ward

Liberton
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	P. Wilson	6,923
	Conservative	D. J. May	3,558
Majority
Turnout				40.87%
	Labour hold

Location of Merchiston ward

Merchiston
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal	J. F. Lawrie	3,473
	Progressives	T. Morgan	2,461
Majority
Turnout				50.42%
	Liberal gain from Progressives

Location of Morningside ward

Morningside
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Progressives	R. Lorimer	3,263
	Liberal	N. L. Gordon	2,057
Majority
Turnout				34.47%
	Progressives hold

Location of Murrayfield-Cramond ward

Murrayfield-Cramond
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Progressives	H. Macpherson	4,975
	Labour	D. M. Henderson	2,475
Majority
Turnout				34.08%
	Progressives hold

Location of Newington ward

Newington
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Progressives	E. M. Kean	3,463
	Labour	D. F. Renton	1,913
	Liberal	J. Grahamslaw	1,144
	SNP	Christina MacWhirter	518
Majority
Turnout				40.01%
	Progressives hold

Location of Pilton ward

Pilton
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Catherine T. Nealon	4,609
	Conservative	R. Beattie	1,001
Majority
Turnout				28.17%
	Labour hold

Location of Portobello ward

Portobello
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Progressives	G. Lerette	3,305
	Labour	Mary Hutchinson	1,985
Majority
Turnout				36.85%
	Progressives hold

Location of St Andrews ward

St. Andrews
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	D. Drummond-Young	1,566
	Labour	R. A. Collett	915
Majority
Turnout				33.24%
	Conservative hold

Location of St Bernards ward

St. Bernard's
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Progressives	Winifred E. Donaldson	3,326
	Labour	R. D. Anderson	2,029
	Liberal	C. S. Waterman	722
	Local Community	J. A. Stevenson	173
Majority
Turnout				34.47%
	Progressives hold

Location of St Giles ward

St. Giles
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	L. M. Christie	1,470
	Conservative	J. McConnell	388
	Progressives	J. McCann	365
Majority
Turnout				24.15%
	Labour gain from SNP

Location of Sighthill ward

Sighthill
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	J. T. Davies	4,444
	Conservative	W. R. Scott	840
	SNP	R. Mackenna	632
	Progressives	G. D. M. Galbraith	605
	Liberal	Pamela W. King	335
	Communist	W. M. Millar	81
Majority
Turnout				38.84%
	Labour gain from Progressives

Location of South Leith

South Leith
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	A. Ross	2,514
	Progressives	A. L. Mackintosh	1,943
	SNP	Mary G. Thompson	739
	Protestant Action	J. R. Maclean	217
Majority
Turnout				42.32%
	Labour gain from Progressives

Location of West Leith ward

West Leith
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Progressives	A. D. Wilson	3,064
	Labour	R. Jeffreys-Jones	1,629
Majority
Turnout				41.94%
	Progressives hold

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s ^t ^u ^v ^w ^x ^y ^z "SNP lose all their seats in Edinburgh". The Glasgow Herald. 5 May 1971. p. 10. Retrieved 18 January 2020.

[Glasgow_Herald-1] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s ^t ^u ^v ^w ^x ^y ^z "SNP lose all their seats in Edinburgh". The Glasgow Herald. 5 May 1971. p. 10. Retrieved 18 January 2020.

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