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2012 United Kingdom local elections

← 2011 3 May 2012 2013 →
All 36 metropolitan boroughs, 18 out of 55 unitary authorities, 74 out of 201 district councils, all 32 Scottish council areas, 21 out of 22 Welsh principal councils, and 3 directly elected mayors
First party Second party Third party   Leader Ed Miliband David Cameron Nick Clegg Party Labour Conservative Liberal Democrats Leader since 25 September 2010 6 December 2005 18 December 2007 Swing 1% 4% 1% Projected vote-share 38% 31% 16% Councils 75 42 6 Councils +/– 32 12 1 Councillors 2,158 1,005 431 Councillors +/– 823 405 336   Fourth party Fifth party   Leader Alex Salmond Leanne Wood Party SNP Plaid Cymru Leader since 3 September 2004 16 March 2012 Projected vote-share 2 0 Councils 2 1 Councils +/– 424 158 Councillors 57 41
Colours denote the winning party, as shown in the main table of results.

The 2012 United Kingdom local elections were held across England, Scotland and Wales on 3 May 2012. Elections were held in 128 English local authorities, all 32 Scottish local authorities and 21 of the 22 Welsh unitary authorities, alongside three mayoral elections including the London mayoralty and the London Assembly. Referendums were also held in 11 English cities to determine whether or not to introduce directly elected mayors.

The BBC's projected national vote share put Labour on 38%, the Conservatives on 31%, the Liberal Democrats on 16% and others on 15%. Rallings and Thrasher of Plymouth University estimated 39% for Labour, 33% for the Conservatives, 15% for the Liberal Democrats, and 13% for others.

The inaugural election of police and crime commissioners for 41 of the 43 territorial police forces in England and Wales took place separately, in November 2012.

Electoral process

All registered electors (British, Irish, Commonwealth and European Union citizens) who were aged 18 or over on Thursday 3 May 2012 were entitled to vote in the local elections. Those who were temporarily away from their ordinary address (for example, away working, on holiday, in student accommodation or in hospital) were also entitled to vote in the local elections, although those who had moved abroad and registered as overseas electors cannot vote in the local elections. It is possible to register to vote at more than one address (such as a university student who had a term-time address and lives at home during holidays) at the discretion of the local Electoral Register Office, but it remains an offence to vote more than once in the same local government election.

The deadline to register to vote in the election was midnight on Wednesday 18 April 2012, though anyone who qualified as an anonymous elector had until midnight on Thursday 26 April 2012 to register.

Results

Overall results - Great Britain

Party		Councils		Councillors
		Number	Change	Number	Change
	Labour	75	32	2,158	823
	Conservative	32	12	1,005	405
	Liberal Democrats	6	1	431	336
	SNP	2	2	424	57
	Plaid Cymru	0	1	158	41
	Green	0		26	5
	Residents	0		21	5
	Scottish Green	0		14	6
	UKIP	0		9
	Health Concern	0		5	3
	Respect	0		5	5
	Liberal	0		4	6
	Others	5	2	596	151
	No overall control	51	18	n/a	n/a

England

The local authorities having elections in 2012 (excluding mayoral elections) covered about 40% of the total English electorate, with 15.9 million electors entitled to vote. Turnout overall was 31.0%.

In summary, the accumulated local authority vote and seats won by political party was:

Note the equivalent of these figures may not be commonly available for other election years. They represent the actual numbers of votes cast and should not be falsely compared to the more commonly available figures based on the projections for the whole of Great Britain.

Metropolitan boroughs

All 36 Metropolitan boroughs had one third of their seats up for election.

Unitary authorities

Whole council up for election

Two unitary authorities that would usually have had a third of their seats up for election, actually had elections for all their seats because of the implementation of boundary changes.

One third of council up for election

In 16 English unitary authorities, one third of the council was up for election.

District councils

Whole council up for election

Four district councils that would usually have had one-third of their seats due for election, actually had full council elections as a result of the implementation of new ward boundaries.

Half of council up for election

7 district councils had half of their seats up for election.

One third of council up for election

In 63 district authorities, one third of the seats were up for election.

Mayoral elections

Three direct mayoral elections were held.

Mayoral referendums

Referendums were also held in 11 English cities to determine whether or not to introduce the position of a directly elected mayor. These polls took place in Birmingham, Bradford, Bristol, Coventry, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne, Nottingham, Sheffield and Wakefield. Of these 11 cities, only Bristol chose direct election (rather than council appointment) of a mayor. In addition, the citizens of Doncaster voted on the same day to continue electing their mayors directly.

Scotland

All council seats were up for election in the 32 Scottish authorities.

Wales

Party		Votes	%	+/-	Councils	+/-	Seats	+/-
	Labour	304,296	36.0%	9.4%	10	8	577	237
	Plaid Cymru	133,961	15.8%	1.1%	0		158	39
	Conservative	108,365	12.8%	2.8%	0	2	105	67
	Liberal Democrats	68,619	8.1%	4.8%	0		72	92
	Independent/Others	231,026	27.3%	0.7%	2	1	329	40
	No overall control	n/a	n/a	n/a	9	5	n/a	n/a

In 21 out of 22 Welsh authorities, the whole council was up for election. On 17 January 2012, the Welsh Government announced that elections for Anglesey council have been postponed to May 2013.

See also

• Political make-up of local councils in the United Kingdom

References

1. "Local Elections 2012". Conservative Councillors Association. Retrieved 15 November 2011.
2. ^ Colin Rallings and Michael Thrashe (August 2012). Local Elections in England 2012 (PDF) (Report). Electoral Commission. Retrieved 10 May 2016.
3. ^ "Greg Clark: Date set for elected city mayors". Department of Communities and Local Government. 5 December 2011. Retrieved 8 December 2011.
4. "At-a-glance: Elections 2012". BBC News. 4 May 2012.
5. "Local elections 2016" (PDF). House of Commons Library. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
6. "The Representation of the People (Form of Canvass) (England and Wales) Regulations 2006, Schedule Part 1". Legislation.gov.uk. 13 October 2011. Retrieved 18 April 2012.
7. "I have two homes. Can I register at both addresses?". The Electoral Commission. Archived from the original on 15 November 2008. Retrieved 5 January 2011.
8. The deadline for the receipt of electoral registration applications is the eleventh working day before election day.
9. The deadline for the receipt and determination of anonymous electoral registration applications was the same as the publication date of the notice of alteration to the Electoral Register (i.e. the fifth working day before election day).
10. "BBC News - Vote 2012". BBC News. 8 May 2012.
11. "Hartlepool electoral review". Local Government Boundary Commission for England. Archived from the original on 2 April 2012. Retrieved 18 April 2012.
12. "Forthcoming Elections - Swindon Borough Council". Swindon Borough Council. Archived from the original on 22 April 2012. Retrieved 18 April 2012.
13. "Broxbourne electoral review". Local Government Boundary Commission for England. Archived from the original on 20 March 2012. Retrieved 18 April 2012.
14. "Daventry electoral review". Local Government Boundary Commission for England. Archived from the original on 2 April 2012. Retrieved 18 April 2012.
15. "Rugby electoral review". Local Government Boundary Commission for England. Archived from the original on 2 April 2012. Retrieved 18 April 2012.
16. "Election News Summer 2011 - Rushmoor Borough Council" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 September 2011.
17. "Salford referendum votes for directly elected mayor". BBC News. 27 January 2012.
18. Bradbury, Sean (7 February 2012). "Liverpool Council passes motion to adopt elected mayor system". Liverpool Daily Post.
19. Excludes Anglesey in vote and seat data. See individual detailed articles below for the breakdown; this is a summary of the overall result.
20. "Anglesey council election postponed for year to 2013". BBC News. 17 January 2012. Retrieved 7 February 2012. Local government elections on Anglesey have been delayed for a year. It will mean people on the island will elect their new council in May 2013, 12 months later than in the rest of Wales.

v t e Elections and referendums in the United Kingdom
General elections	1802 1806 1807 1812 1818 1820 1826 1830 1831 1832 1835 1837 1841 1847 1852 1857 1859 1865 1868 1874 1880 1885 1886 1892 1895 1900 1906 1910 (Jan) 1910 (Dec) 1918 1922 1923 1924 1929 1931 1935 1945 1950 1951 1955 1959 1964 1966 1970 1974 (Feb) 1974 (Oct) 1979 1983 1987 1992 1997 2001 2005 2010 2015 2017 2019 2024 Next
Local elections	1889 1890 1892 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
European elections	1979 1984 1989 1994 1999 2004 2009 2014 2019
Referendums	1975 2011 2016
See also Elections in England Northern Ireland Scotland Wales Great Britain

v t e (2011 ←)   2012 United Kingdom local elections   (→ 2013)
Metropolitan boroughs (England)	Barnsley Birmingham Bolton Bradford Bury Calderdale Coventry Doncaster Dudley Gateshead Kirklees Knowsley Leeds Liverpool Manchester Newcastle upon Tyne North Tyneside Oldham Rochdale Rotherham Salford Sandwell Sefton Sheffield Solihull South Tyneside St Helens Stockport Sunderland Tameside Trafford Wakefield Walsall Wigan Wirral Wolverhampton
Unitary authorities (England)	Blackburn with Darwen Derby Halton Hartlepool Kingston upon Hull Milton Keynes North East Lincolnshire Peterborough Plymouth Portsmouth Reading Slough Southampton Southend-on-Sea Swindon Thurrock Warrington Wokingham
District councils (England)	Adur Amber Valley Basildon Basingstoke and Deane Bassetlaw Brentwood Broxbourne Burnley Cambridge Cannock Chase Carlisle Castle Point Cheltenham Cherwell Chorley Colchester Craven Crawley Daventry Eastleigh Elmbridge Epping Forest Exeter Fareham Gloucester Gosport Great Yarmouth Harlow Harrogate Hart Hastings Havant Hertsmere Huntingdonshire Hyndburn Ipswich Lincoln Maidstone Mole Valley Newcastle-under-Lyme North Hertfordshire Norwich Nuneaton and Bedworth Oxford Pendle Preston Purbeck Redditch Reigate and Banstead Rochford Rossendale Rugby Runnymede Rushmoor South Cambridgeshire South Lakeland St Albans Stevenage Stratford-on-Avon Stroud Tamworth Tandridge Three Rivers Tunbridge Wells Watford Welwyn Hatfield West Lancashire West Oxfordshire Weymouth and Portland Winchester Woking Worcester Worthing Wyre Forest
Unitary authorities (Wales)	Blaenau Gwent Bridgend Caerphilly Cardiff Carmarthenshire Ceredigion Conwy Denbighshire Flintshire Gwynedd Merthyr Tydfil Monmouthshire Neath Port Talbot Newport Pembrokeshire Powys Rhondda Cynon Taf Swansea Torfaen Vale of Glamorgan Wrexham
Unitary authorities (Scotland)	Aberdeen Aberdeenshire Angus Argyll and Bute Clackmannanshire Dumfries and Galloway Dundee East Ayrshire East Dunbartonshire East Lothian East Renfrewshire Edinburgh Falkirk Fife Glasgow Highland Inverclyde Midlothian Moray Comhairle nan Eilean Siar North Ayrshire North Lanarkshire Orkney Perth and Kinross Renfrewshire Scottish Borders Shetland South Ayrshire South Lanarkshire Stirling West Dunbartonshire West Lothian
Mayoral elections	Bristol Liverpool London Salford
PCC elections	Police and crime commissioner elections
Regional assembly elections	London Assembly

• 2012 United Kingdom local elections
• Council elections in the United Kingdom
• 2012 elections in the United Kingdom
• Premiership of David Cameron
• Ed Miliband