Labour and the Tories frequently form alliances to take power in Councils across Scotland. Often this is in Councils where The SNP is the largest single party. Elsewhere in the UK they compete.

The result is that most Councils in Scotland are lead by Westminster parties, not Scottish ones:

After independence political parties from other countries will not be able to operate in Scotland – and a new political structure will emerge. All parties will be focussed entirely on Scotland and in return Scotland will control who has the powers to govern – not just those devolved from Westminster.

Here are some details on the number of councillors, party control, and leadership for each Council as of March 2024:

Where parties are in brackets they have enabled the controlling party to take control but aren’t necessarily in formal alliance.