SNP Now The Biggest Party in Scottish Local Government

As the focus of the media was on the Scottish Parliamentary results on Thursday it almost passed without notice that the SNP are now the biggest party in local government with 363 Councillors throughout Scotland compared to Labour's 343.

This is a massive turnaround for the SNP and represents a significant boost for the army of new SNP MSP's who will have a dedicated team working with them within reach constituency.

The election was fought on the new Single Transferable vote (STV) system of proportional representation that ended the massive over representation compared to votes cast of the Labour Party in town halls across Scotland.

Speaking after the declarations SNP Local Government Spokesperson, Cllr David Alexander, said.

"For generations Labour's Local Government base has made the Labour machine a difficult one to derail.

Their domination of grass roots politics through an unfair first past the post voting system cemented their position as the dominant party within the country often to the exclusion of the vast majority of the electorate and all with a minority of the votes cast. These days are now over.

Council's across the country will be refreshed as for the first time in living memory Scottish local government will not be the personal plaything of one party but a genuine coming together of all of the political colours of Scotland and that has to be beneficial for democracy as much as for efficiency within govenment."