Elections that were held across England, Scotland and Wales
The
2012 United Kingdom local elections
were held across
England
,
Scotland
and
Wales
on 3 May 2012.
[1]
Elections were held in 128
English local authorities
,
[2]
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]
The BBC's projected national vote share put Labour on 38%, the Conservatives on 31%, the Liberal Democrats on 16% and others on 15%.
[4]
Rallings
and
Thrasher
of Plymouth University estimated 39% for Labour, 33% for the Conservatives, 15% for the Liberal Democrats, and 13% for others.
[5]
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
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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,
[6]
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.
[7]
The deadline to
register to vote
in the election was midnight on Wednesday 18 April 2012,
[8]
though anyone who qualified as an
anonymous elector
had until midnight on Thursday 26 April 2012 to register.
[9]
Results
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Overall results - Great Britain
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England
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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.
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%.
[2]
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
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All 36
Metropolitan boroughs
had one third of their seats up for election.
Unitary authorities
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Whole council up for election
[
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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
[
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In 16 English unitary authorities, one third of the council was up for election.
District councils
[
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Whole council up for election
[
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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
[
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7
district councils
had half of their seats up for election.
One third of council up for election
[
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In 63 district authorities, one third of the seats were up for election.
Mayoral elections
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Three direct mayoral elections were held.
Mayoral referendums
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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
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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
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Map showing the results of the elections in Wales
Key:
Labour control
Independent 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.
[20]
See also
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References
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