The council has been under no overall control since 2007, with the Scottish National Party leading a variety of minority administrations since then. The next election is due in 2027. The council's civic head takes the title of provost. This is a largely ceremonial role, chairing council meetings and acting as the area's first citizen. Although an elected councillor, the provost is expected to be politically impartial.^[1] Political leadership is provided by the leader of the council, who has been Douglas Reid of the SNP since 2007.

The council's chief executive is Eddie Fraser, who took on the role in January 2021.^[4]

The Governance and Scrutiny Committee of East Ayrshire Council is tasked with examining, scrutinising, challenging and asking questions relating to matters regards delivery of services by the council, as well as having some powers over how the council conducts its affairs and business.^[5]

Committees of the council edit

East Ayrshire Council have a number of committees that support its work in delivering services to the population of East Ayrshire. Some committees, such as the Ayrshire Shared Services Joint Committee, also have representatives from South Ayrshire and North Ayrshire attending.^[6]

The current committees of East Ayrshire Council are;^[7]

• Ayrshire Economic Joint Committee
• Ayrshire Economic Partnership
• Audit and Performance Committee
• East Ayrshire Council Executive Committee
• Appeals Panel
• Ayrshire Shared Services Joint Committee (with South Ayrshire Council and North Ayrshire Council)
• Cabinet
• Community Planning Partnership Board
• Council
• East Ayrshire Integration Joint Board
• East Ayrshire Strategic Planning Group
• Governance & Scrutiny Committee
• Grants Committee
• JCC Central
• JNC for Teaching Staff
• Licensing Forum
• Local Government Licensing Panel
• Local Review Body
• Planning Committee
• Police and Fire and Rescue Committee
• Recruitment Panel

The first election to East Ayrshire Council was held in 1995, initially operating as a shadow authority alongside the outgoing authorities until the new system came into force on 1 April 1996. Political control of the council since 1996 has been as follows:^[8]

The leaders of the council since 1996 have been:^[9]

Leaders of East Ayrshire Council edit

Since 2007 elections have been held every five years under the single transferable vote system, introduced by the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004. Election results since 1995 have been as follows:^[8]

The council's main offices are at Council Headquarters on London Road, Kilmarnock. The building was built as the James Hamilton School, which was designed by William Reid, the Ayrshire county architect, and opened in 1933.^[13] The school relocated to a new site in 1977 and the buildings became the London Road Centre and were used for various purposes until they were converted to offices for East Ayrshire Council ahead of the new council's creation in 1996.^[14][15]

Since 2017 the area has divided into nine multi-member wards returning 32 members:^{[12][16][17][18]}

• East Ayrshire; the local authority area
• Local government in Scotland