A group of people sat round a table in an office environment raising their hands to vote.

Falkirk Council removes religious representatives’ voting rights on local education

June 26, 2025

We are delighted that Falkirk has become the 11th council in Scotland to remove voting rights from unelected religious representatives.

We are delighted that Falkirk Council has today made the decision to remove voting privileges from the three religious representatives on its executive committee. Under Scottish law, local authorities in Scotland must appoint three religious representatives to their education committee. However, the national government has confirmed that there is no obligation to give these representatives voting powers.

The motion was successfully proposed by Scottish National Party councillor Iain Sinclair. Falkirk now becomes the 11th council in Scotland to remove voting rights on matters of local education, the most recent being East Lothian in December 2023.

Our CEO Fraser Sutherland said:

“We are delighted that Falkirk Council has taken the decision to embrace democratic accountability and secularism today. Granting voting rights on matters of local education to unelected religious advocates is a relic of a bygone age, with no place in a modern, progressive, mostly non-religious country such as Scotland. This only adds pressure on those councils who have not yet made this change to do so as soon as possible”