Local government in Scotland

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Local government in Scotland comprises thirty-two local authorities, commonly referred to as councils. Each council provides public services, including education, social care, waste management, libraries and planning.^[1] Councils receive the majority of their funding from the Scottish Government, but operate independently and are accountable to their local electorates.^[2] Councils raise additional income via the Council Tax, a locally variable domestic property tax, and Business rates, a non-domestic property tax.^[3][4]

Councils are made up of councillors who are directly elected by the residents of the area they represent. Each council area is divided into a number of wards, and three or four councillors are elected for each ward.^[1] There are currently 1,227 elected councillors in Scotland.^[5] Local elections are normally held every five years and use the single transferable vote electoral system.^[1] The most recent election was the 2022 Scottish local elections and the next election will be the 2027 Scottish local elections.

Council administrations typically comprise a group of councillors within the council who are able to command majority support.^[6] Minority administrations and majority administrations may be formed.^[7] Although coalition administrations are more typical, occasionally a majority administration is formed by a single political party, but this is uncommon due to the proportional voting system used in Scottish local elections.^[7] Despite being uncommon on the Scottish mainland, it is possible for independent politicians to form an administration.^[6]

The Convention of Scottish Local Auuthorities (COSLA) is an umbrella organisation formed in 1975 to represent the views of Scotland's thirty-two councils to central government.^[8]