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 could not vote in the local elections. It was 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 remained 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,The deadline for the receipt of electoral registration applications is the eleventh working day before election day. though anyone who qualified as an anonymous elector had until midnight on Thursday 26 April 2012 to register.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).
Results
Overall results - Great Britain Party Councils Councillors Number Change Number Change 75 32 2,158 823 32 121,005 405 6 1431 336 2 2424 57 0 1158 41 0 26 5 0 21 5 0 14 6 0 9 0 5 3 0 5 5 0 4 6 Others5 2 596 151 51 18n/an/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: + English National vote and seat share Party Vote Seats 43.1% 49.4% 27.5% 32.5% 14.0% 11.9% 4.2% 1.1% 3.2% 2.8% 8.0% 2.3% 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.
Council Previous control Result Details Barnsley hold Details Birmingham gain Details Bolton hold Details Bradford hold (Labour Minority with Green support)Details Bury holdDetails Calderdale holdDetails Coventry holdDetails Doncaster holdDetails Dudley gainDetails Gateshead holdDetails Kirklees holdDetails Knowsley holdDetails Leeds holdDetails Liverpool holdDetails Manchester holdDetails Newcastle upon Tyne holdDetails North Tyneside holdDetails Oldham holdDetails Rochdale holdDetails Rotherham holdDetails St Helens holdDetails Salford holdDetails Sandwell holdDetails Sefton gainDetails Sheffield holdDetails Solihull holdDetails South Tyneside holdDetails Stockport hold (Lib Dem Minority)Details Sunderland holdDetails Tameside holdDetails Trafford holdDetails Wakefield holdDetails Walsall hold (Conservative Minority with Lib Dem Support)Details Wigan holdDetails Wirral gainDetails Wolverhampton holdDetails
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.
Council Previous control Result Details Hartlepool holdDetails Swindon holdDetails
One third of council up for election In 16 English unitary authorities, one third of the council was up for election.
Council Previous control Result Details Blackburn with Darwen holdDetails Derby gainDetails Halton holdDetails Kingston upon Hull holdDetails Milton Keynes holdDetails North East Lincolnshire gainDetails Peterborough holdDetails Plymouth gainDetails Portsmouth holdDetails Reading gainDetails Slough holdDetails Southampton gainDetails Southend-on-Sea gainDetails Thurrock gainDetails Warrington holdDetails Wokingham holdDetails
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. Council Previous control Result Details Broxbourne holdDetails Daventry holdDetails Rugby holdDetails Rushmoor holdDetails
Half of council up for election 7 district councils had half of their seats up for election.
Council Previous control Result Details Adur holdDetails Cheltenham holdDetails Fareham holdDetails Gosport holdDetails Hastings holdDetails Nuneaton and Bedworth gainDetails Oxford holdDetails
One third of council up for election In 63 district authorities, one third of the seats were up for election.
Council Previous control Result Details Amber Valley holdDetails Basildon holdDetails Basingstoke and Deane holdDetails Bassetlaw holdDetails Brentwood holdDetails Burnley gainDetails Cambridge hold (casting vote of the Mayor)Details Cannock Chase gainDetails Carlisle gainDetails Castle Point holdDetails Cherwell holdDetails Chorley gainDetails Colchester holdDetails Craven holdDetails Crawley holdDetails Eastleigh holdDetails Elmbridge holdDetails Epping Forest holdDetails Exeter gainDetails Gloucester gainDetails Great Yarmouth gainDetails Harlow gainDetails Harrogate holdDetails Hart gainDetails Havant holdDetails Hertsmere holdDetails Huntingdonshire holdDetails Hyndburn holdDetails Ipswich holdDetails Lincoln holdDetails Maidstone holdDetails Mole Valley holdDetails Newcastle-under-Lyme gainDetails North Hertfordshire holdDetails Norwich gainDetails Pendle holdDetails Preston holdDetails Purbeck holdDetails Redditch gain Details Reigate and Banstead holdDetails Rochford holdDetails Rossendale gainDetails Runnymede holdDetails St Albans holdDetails South Cambridgeshire holdDetails South Lakeland holdDetails Stevenage holdDetails Stratford-on-Avon holdDetails Stroud holdDetails Tamworth holdDetails Tandridge holdDetails Three Rivers holdDetails Tunbridge Wells holdDetails Watford holdDetails Welwyn Hatfield holdDetails West Lancashire holdDetails West Oxfordshire holdDetails Weymouth and Portland holdDetails Winchester gainDetails Woking holdDetails Worcester gainDetails Worthing holdDetails Wyre Forest gainDetails
Mayoral elections Three direct mayoral elections were held.
Local Authority Previous Mayor Mayor-elect DetailsLondon Boris Johnson (Conservative) Boris Johnson (Conservative)DetailsSalford none Ian Stewart (Labour)DetailsLiverpoolnone Joe Anderson (Labour)Details
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.
Council Previous control Result Details Aberdeen City holdDetails Aberdeenshire holdDetails Angus gainDetailsArgyll and Bute holdDetails Clackmannanshire holdDetails Dumfries and Galloway holdDetails Dundee City gainDetails East Ayrshire holdDetails East Dunbartonshire holdDetails East Lothian holdDetails East Renfrewshire Details City of Edinburgh holdDetails Falkirk holdDetails Fife holdDetails Glasgow City holdDetailsHighland hold Details Inverclyde holdDetails Midlothian gainDetailsMoray DetailsNa h-Eileanan Siar holdDetails North Ayrshire holdDetails North Lanarkshire holdDetailsOrkney holdDetails Perth and Kinross holdDetails Renfrewshire gainDetails Scottish Borders holdDetailsShetland holdDetails South Ayrshire holdDetails South Lanarkshire holdDetails Stirling holdDetails West Dunbartonshire gainDetails West Lothian holdDetails
Wales
Party VotesExcludes Anglesey in vote and seat data. See individual detailed articles below for the breakdown; this is a summary of the overall result. % +/- Councils +/- Seats +/- 304,296 36.0%9.4%10 8577237 133,961 15.8%1.1%015839 108,365 12.8%2.8%0 210567 68,619 8.1%4.8%07292 /Others 231,026 27.3%0.7%2 1329 40 n/a n/a n/a9 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.
Council 2008 Result 2012 Result Details Blaenau Gwent gainDetails Bridgend gainDetails Caerphilly gainDetails Cardiff gainDetails Carmarthenshire holdDetails Ceredigion holdDetails Conwy holdDetails Denbighshire holdDetails Flintshire holdDetails Gwynedd holdDetails Merthyr Tydfil gainDetails Monmouthshire gainDetails Neath Port Talbot holdDetails Newport gainDetails Pembrokeshire holdDetails Powys holdDetails Rhondda Cynon Taff holdDetails Swansea gainDetails Torfaen gainDetails Vale of Glamorgan gainDetails Wrexham holdDetails
See also
Political make-up of local councils in the United Kingdom
References