United Kingdom local elections, 2012

United Kingdom local elections, 2012

3 May 2012

131 councils in England all 32 councils in Scotland 21 of 22 councils in Wales   First party Second party Third party   Leader Ed Miliband David Cameron Nick Clegg Party Labour Conservative Liberal Democrat Leader since 25 September 2010 6 December 2005 18 December 2007 Last election 37%[1] 35%[1] 15%[1] Popular vote 38% 31% 16% Swing 1% 4% 1% Councils 75 42 6 Councils +/– 32 12 1 Councillors 2,159 1,006 431 Councillors +/– 823 405 336

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.^[2] Elections were held in 131 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.^[3]

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,^[4] 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.^[5]

The deadline to register to vote in the election was midnight on Wednesday 18 April 2012,^[6] though anyone who qualified as an anonymous elector had until midnight on Thursday 26 April 2012 to register.^[7]

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.

Results

The Labour Party was seen as making strong progress across the country, by making gains in areas where the party had suffered losses at the General Election two years earlier. Their biggest prize was England's largest council, Birmingham, after ending eight years of Conservative-Liberal Democrat rule at City Hall. They also gained councils like Nuneaton & Bedworth, Southampton and Great Yarmouth from the Conservatives. Nuneaton & Bedworth had been seen as a sensational gain for the Conservatives in 2008 when Labour suffered nationally. Labour also won a clutch of councils from No Overall Control, including Norwich and Chorley. In Wales they regained control of Cardiff. In Scotland they had been expected to lose ground, but instead they retained control of their existing two councils and gained another two.

The election was a bad showing for the Conservatives, who suffered their first major set of losses since coming to power in 2010. They suffered a backlash from voters after a badly received budget in March. Unlike 2011, their losses to Labour were not compensated by gains from their junior coalition partners, the Liberal Democrats. The party was unnerved to lose councils like Dudley to Labour, which was considered as natural middle-England territory necessary to winning a General Election. The Tories also suffered in their heartlands: in leafy West Oxfordshire they lost 4 seats to Labour, in Daventry 4 and in Peterborough they lost another 3. The only point of cheer for the party came when they gained Winchester from No Overall Control. In Wales they lost control of Monmouthshire and the Vale of Glamorgan, as well as dozens of seats in other councils.

The Liberal Democrats again suffered a huge setback across the country. They fell back heavily in northern cities where they had once made gains against Labour: in Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne and their leader Nick Clegg's home city of Sheffield. Just a few years earlier, they ruled in three of the four cities. In intellectual Oxford and Cambridge, they lost yet more ground to Labour. In Cambridge they lost their majority, although narrowly remained the largest party. In Scotland they had been the largest party in the capital Edinburgh, where they held 16 seats prior to the election. Afterwards they were reduced a rump of just 3, and were now the smallest delegation at City Hall. Similarly in Wales, they handed victory to Labour in Cardiff after losing their comfortable majority in the capital by shedding more than half of the seats they were defending. By contrast they fared better in straight fights with the Conservatives than was the case in 2011. On the south coast in Portsmouth and Eastleigh, for example, they made small gains.

England

Map of the results following the elections in England. Black indicates a council in no overall control, whilst white indicates area where no elections took place.

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.^[3] 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

Map of the control of Scottish councils following the 2012 council elections. Black indicates no overall control, red indicates majority Scottish Labour control, and yellow indicates majority Scottish National Party control.

Map of the largest party on each Scottish council following the 2012 council elections. Red indicates Scottish Labour, yellow Scottish National Party, white Independents and blue Scottish Conservatives. Patterned areas indicate a council where two parties have the same number of seats.

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

Wales

Map showing the results of the elections in Wales
Key:

  Labour control

  Independent control

  No Overall Control

  No election held

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.^[16]

See also

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

References

Elections and referendums in the United Kingdom General elections 1801 co-option 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 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 European elections 1979 1984 1989 1994 1999 2004 2009 2014 2019 Referendums 1975 2011 2016 Elections and referendums in England (1264–1705) Great Britain (1708–1796) Ireland Northern Ireland Scotland Wales

(2011 ←)   United Kingdom local elections, 2012   (→ 2013) Metropolitan borough elections 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 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 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 Welsh councils 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 Scottish councils 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 Liverpool London Salford Bristol PCC elections Police and crime commissioner elections Regional assembly elections London Assembly