As parliament is back from recess and Scotland’s adventure at the World Cup start to feel like a distant memory, what better time to start to look forward towards the election year ahead.

Scotland has seen for the last three elections a growth of Liberal voices across all levels. From local councils to Westminster and Holyrood. While we are still celebrating our big wins in May, now the attention is turning towards next May and making it four in a row of gains for the Scottish Liberal Democrats under the leadership team of Alex and Wendy.

The results at Holyrood saw that in every constituency our list vote increased on 2021 so there are people out there ready to give us a chance. 87 councillors was our election total in 2022 and the ambition of getting back into three figures next May has been clear in almost all the time since being announced our autumn conference of that year. Which would be the first time since 2007 when we were last into the three figures range at Scottish local elections, and the only time we have done it so far under STV.

The opportunities to grow in our strongholds of Edinburgh and the Highlands are clearly there but May has shown that we also have the potential to grow in other areas to. If that be Aberdeen and Dundee in the North East of Scotland, continuing our growth in the Borders or starting to make comebacks across my home of the west central belt. There is no area off limits if we put in the work.

Multi-party politics is not new to us here in Scotland as it might be to other parts of the UK so we know that we can’t afford to take our foot off the gas. With Reform and the Scottish Greens being new challengers in urban and rural seats that has not been the case before, we have work to make sure not just that we win in our targets but that we keep our held seats.

As of today, we currently have four councils with sole representation and at the biggest risk of joining the list of those with no Lib Dem representation if not careful. Held seats that are vital to hold and grow in if we are to see the number of councils with a Lib Dem in May 2027 increase. A few seats are also facing a changing of the guard means working to transfer vote to a new candidate to keep the hard work going.

However, we have great opportunities to break new ground which makes this election exciting so just to name a few in areas close to me. In West Dunbartonshire we have never held a council seat since it was formed but after our best result in Clydebank and Milngavie constituency can that change with hopefully our first councillor in Clydebank, breaking the SNP and Labour dominance there. Next my birthplace of Glasgow and my neighbours in Inverclyde, the last majority Lib Dem council under FPTP, have been without Liberal representation in the chambers. Now if we can work hard to build on the results of May then maybe will see that changing too in this election or the next.

I am looking forward to hopefully another good election day next May and help not just completing another night of Scottish Lib Dem gains but to complete that target set back in 2022 by Alex Cole-Hamilton of getting our councillor numbers back into three figures. Electing more hard-working campaigners across even more of Scotland, making an even bigger difference to communities across the country.

* Grant Toghill is the Convenor of the Renfrewshire Liberal Democrats and council candidate in May 2027.