The 2003 Scottish local elections were held on 1 May 2003, the same day as Scottish Parliament elections and local elections in parts of England. All 32 Scottish councils had all their seats up for election – all Scottish councils are unitary authorities.

This was the last election for local government in Scotland to use the first past the post electoral system.

Boundary changes Minor council boundary changes took place to better reflect certain areas:

Transfer of properties at Blackburn from Aberdeen City Council to Aberdeenshire Council Transfer of an area of land at West Farm, Broxburn from City of Edinburgh Council to West Lothian Council Transfer of an area of land and properties at Ardoch Sewage Works from Argyll & Bute Council to West Dunbartonshire Council Transfer of an area of land at Braehead from Glasgow City Council to Renfrewshire Council

Results

!colspan=2|Parties !Votes !Votes % !+/- !Wards !NetGain/Loss

|611,843||32.6||−3.7%||509||−42

|451,660||24.1||−4.6%||181||−23

|282,895||15.1||+1.6%||122||+14

|272,057||14.5||+1.9%||175||+18

|189,749||10.1||+3.0%||230||+39 |- | style="width: 10px" style="background-color:" | | style="text-align: left;" scope="row" | Other |67,533||3.6||+2.0%||4||−6 |- !colspan=2|Total!!1,875,737!! !! !! 1,222!!

Councils

Council 1999 result Control before election(if different) 2003 result Details Aberdeen City NOC Details Aberdeenshire Details Angus DetailsArgyll and Bute Details Clackmannanshire Details Dumfries and Galloway Details Dundee City Details East Ayrshire Details East Dunbartonshire Details East Lothian Details East Renfrewshire Details City of Edinburgh Details Falkirk Details Fife Labour Minority (LabLabour minority administration)Details Glasgow City DetailsHighland Details Inverclyde NOC Details Midlothian DetailsMoray DetailsNa h-Eileanan Siar Details North Ayrshire Details North Lanarkshire DetailsOrkney Details Perth and Kinross Details Renfrewshire Details Scottish Borders DetailsShetland Details South Ayrshire NOC Details South Lanarkshire (Lab minority)Details Stirling (Lab minority) Details West Dunbartonshire NOC (Ind+SNP+SSP) Details West Lothian Details

Notes and references