Who will form the new administration?

And, in what some have said was a backlash against the SNP’s insistence on having a second Independence Referendum, the Tory party outpolled the Nationalists by almost 6,000 votes on first count preferences.

Despite previous concerns that voting numbers was lower than normal, the overall average turnout for East Renfrewshire was 57.8 per cent.

The councillors who were elected are as follows.

Ward One: Paul Aitken (Scottish Conservative and Unionist), Angela Convery (Scottish National Party), Betty Cunningham (Scottish Labour Party) and Danny Devlin (Independent).

Ward Two: Tony Buchanan (Scottish National Party), Charlie Gilbert (Scottish Conservative and Unionist) and Paul O’Kane (Labour and Co-operative).

Ward Three: Jim Fletcher (Scottish Labour Party), Colm Merrick (Scottish National Party) and Gordon Wallace (Scottish Conservative and Unionist).

Ward Four: Annette Ireland (Scottish National Party), Alan Lafferty (Labour and Co-operative Party), David MacDonald (Independent) and Stewart Miller (Scottish Conservative and Unionist).

Ward Five: Caroline Bamforth (Scottish National Party), Barbara Grant (Scottish Conservative and Unionist), Jim McLean (Scottish Conservative and Unionist) and Jim Swift (Scottish Conservative and Unionist).

Now the hard work starts in earnest as the parties try to form working arrangements with others in order that a coalition deal can be thrashed out for the council administration within East Renfrewshire Council.