Using only the information in Sources A-F:

The first component of the first part of the viewpoint states that “the 2007 council elections were a total disaster for the Labour Party.”  Evidence from Source A provides information relating to the Control of Councils by Party. The Labour Party dropped from having control of 15 councils in 1999 to 2 councils in 2007. In 1999, 10 councils had no overall control compared to in 2007 what was 27 councils with no overall control. This links to evidence in Source B which identifies election data for seats. The Evidence identifies that Labour dropped from 551 seats (45.1%) in 1999 to 348 seats (28.5%) in 2007. Source B also highlights data for the percentage of votes. The data shows that Labours % of votes has fallen from 36.6% in 1999, to 32.9% in 2003, to then 28.1% of 2007. In terms of the number of seats and control of councils by party, the Labour Party clearly had a total disaster as the SNP overtook them in the 2007 election on the number of seats. However, despite Labour losing many seats, they still managed to hold 2 councils and claim the highest number of votes. 

The second component of the first part of the viewpoint points to the SNP replacing Labour as the dominant party in Scottish local government. Evidence from Source A provides information relating to the Control of Councils by Party. In 1999, Labour held control of 15 councils whereas the SNP had control of 1. In 2007, Labour held control of 2 councils whereas the SNP had control of 0. This shows that the SNP lost control of their only council in this election. This links to evidence in Source B which identifies election data for seats. The evidence identifies that the SNP claimed 363 seats and became the majority party. Source B also highlights data for the elections vote share percentages. The data shows that labour fell from in their percentage of votes from 1999 to 2007. Labour had 36.6% of the votes in 1999 to only 28.1% of the votes in 2007. The SNP had 28.8% in 1999 and only 27.9% in 2007.  By every measure, the performance of the Labour Party was less impressive in 2007; they control fewer councils, lost 161 seats compared to the previous election and dropped just under 5% of their vote share compared to the previous election. All of this data shows us how Labour had a nightmare election and let the SNP become the dominant party within the Scottish Local Government of 2007. Despite this, the SNP didn’t control any councils and didn’t receive the highest amount of votes.

The performance of the Labour Party in the 2007 council elections can be said to be a total disaster due to the loss of seats due to the loss of 11 councils as well as dropping 161 seats to rival parties such as the SNP in 2007. For the percentage of seats, they also dropped by 13.2% compared to the previous election of 2003. 

The SNP saw their support rise in numbers within local councils gaining the rank of the dominant party. They gained the highest percentage of seats however, they didn’t get the highest percentage of votes. Therefore this is not as impressive showing that although they were the new dominant party, they didn’t have the highest vote share or full control of a council. 

The first component of the second part of the viewpoint states that “the introduction of the new STV voting system saw both much greater participation all round”. Evidence from Source C provides information relating to turnout. We can see that the turnout increased from 49.6% of the electorate in 2003 to 53.8% of the electorate in 2007. This isn’t as impressive as the turnout for 1999 when Scotland got a devolved parliament when it was 58.1% of the electorate. Evidence from Source C also provides us with information on the number of spoilt ballots. We can see that although participation was up from 2003, 23772 more votes were spoilt in 2007 than in 2003. Source D also highlights data for participation through the number of candidates in council elections. In 2003, there were 4195 candidates fr 1222 seats, this significantly dropped in 2007 to only 2607 candidates for the same number of seats. The STV system may have been a factor in why some voters turned up but there were many people who wasted their vote by spoiling their ballot. Although there was a greater turnout, there wasn’t necessarily greater representation due to the significant number of spoilt papers. 

The second component of the second part of the viewpoint states “fairer representation compared to previous elections”. Evidence from Source E provides us with the number of female candidates in council elections. In 1999, 26.9% of candidates were female; in 2003 it was 27.5% of candidates; in 2007 it was only a mere 22.5% of candidates. The data shows us that the number of female candidates fell significantly from 2003 to 2007. This is showing that more women are less likely to stand within their local councils. Evidence from Source E also provides us with data regarding the number of female councillors. In 1999, 23% of councillors were female; in 200 it was 21.9%; in 2007 it was 21.8%. This highlights that even though it’s a small decrease from 2003 to 2007, it is still a decrease. The number of female candidates and elected councillors highlights that there was in fact not fairer representation compared to previous years but poorer representation with female councillors dropping 1.2% from 1999 to 2007. 

The third component of the second part of the viewpoint states that “the 2012 election was disappointing as there was a deterioration in both these areas”. Evidence from Source C and F highlight information on participation. The turnout from 2007 was 53.8% of the electorate whereas in 2012 dropped significantly to only 39.1% of the electorate. Evidence from C and F highlight data relating to the number of spoilt ballots. In 2007 there were 38351 spoilt ballots whereas in 2012 there were 27044 spoilt. Although there was a decrease of 11307 spoilt papers, this was still a lot higher than in years previous such as 1999 (13597) and 2003 (14579). Evidence from Source E and F shows data relating to representation. In 2012, 23.4% of candidates were female and 24.4 of the elected councillors whereas in 2007 it was 22.5% of candidates and 21.8% were elected. We can see that the number of female candidates rose by 2.6% which is the highest number of female councillors from the 4 years. 2012 was disappointing due to the drop in participation however there were significantly fewer spoilt ballots than the 2007 election. There wasn’t a deterioration in the representation though as it was actually an increase seeing the highest level of female elected councillors in 4 elections. 

The viewpoint states that the 2007 council elections were a disaster for the Labour Party but saw both greater participation and fairer representation. The election data shows us that although the Labour Party had a disaster, they managed to claim overall control of 2 councils which no other party managed to do. They also claimed the highest vote percentage. Regarding greater participation, although there was a higher turnout than in 2003, it still wasn’t at the same level as in 1999. There were also more spoilt ballots meaning that more votes went to waste showing that participation was not better all around. With representation, the number of women fell for both candidates and elected councillors compared to previous elections like in 1999 and 2003. The last part of the viewpoint says that there was deterioration in both of these areas for the 2012 election. This is wrong as the representation of female candidates and councillors increased meaning fairer representation. The participation dropped a lot however there were fewer spoilt papers. This could show that participation was worse in 2012 however representation was actually fairer than in 2007.