2012 Welsh local elections

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2012 Welsh local elections
Flag of Wales (1959-present).svg
  2008 3 May 2012 (2012-05-03) 2017  

All 1,235 seats to 21 of 22 Welsh councils [1]
 First partySecond party
  Carwyn Jones 2011 (cropped).jpg Leanne Wood 2011 (cropped).tif
Leader Carwyn Jones Leanne Wood
Party Labour Plaid Cymru
Leader since10 December 200916 March 2012
Last election340 seats, 27.0% [2] [3] 198 seats, 16.7%
Seats won577158
Seat changeIncrease2.svg237Decrease2.svg40
Popular vote304,466134,201
Popular vote (%)35.6%15.7%
Swing (pp)Increase2.svg8.6%Decrease2.svg1.0%

 Third partyFourth party
  Andrew R. T. Davies 2011 (cropped).jpg Kirsty Williams 2011 (cropped).jpg
Leader Andrew RT Davies Kirsty Williams
Party Conservative Liberal Democrats
Leader since14 July 20118 December 2008
Last election172 seats, 15.9%163 seats, 13.2%
Seats won10572
Seat changeDecrease2.svg67Decrease2.svg92
Popular vote108,58068,619
Popular vote (%)12.7%8.0%
Swing (pp)Decrease2.svg3.2%Decrease2.svg5.2%

2012 Welsh Local Elections - Ward and Council Control.svg
Colours denote the winning party with outright control (left), and the largest party by ward (right)
Key:

The 2012 Welsh local elections took place on 3 May 2012 to elect members of all twenty-two local authorities in Wales. They were held alongside other local elections in the United Kingdom. The previous elections were held in 2008.

Contents

The Labour Party made gains at the expense of the other three major parties and of independents. Labour won majority control of ten councils—up eight from the 2008 local elections—while two remained under the control of independents and nine councils had no overall control.

The Welsh Government announced that elections for Anglesey council would be postponed to May 2013. [4]

Results

PartyVotes [5]  %+/-Councils+/-Seats+/-
Labour 304,46635.6%Increase2.svg8.6%10Increase2.svg8577Increase2.svg237
Independent 201,11023.5%Increase2.svg1.5%2Decrease2.svg1286Decrease2.svg25
Plaid Cymru 134,20115.7%Decrease2.svg1.0%0Steady2.svg158Decrease2.svg40
Conservative 108,58012.7%Decrease2.svg3.2%0Decrease2.svg2105Decrease2.svg68
Liberal Democrats 68,6198.0%Decrease2.svg5.2%0Steady2.svg72Decrease2.svg92
Green 10,3101.2%Increase2.svg0.5%0Steady2.svg0Steady2.svg
UKIP 2,5520.3%Increase2.svg0.1%0Steady2.svg2Increase2.svg2
Other25,5423.0%Decrease2.svg1.3%0Steady2.svg25Decrease2.svg15
No overall control n/an/an/a9Decrease2.svg5n/an/a

For comparative purposes, the table above shows changes since 2008 excluding Anglesey, which was not up for election.

Councils

Council2008 result2012 resultDetails
Blaenau Gwent No overall control Labour gain Details
Bridgend No overall control Labour gain Details
Caerphilly No overall control Labour gain Details
Cardiff No overall control Labour gain Details
Carmarthenshire No overall control No overall control hold Details
Ceredigion No overall control No overall control hold Details
Conwy No overall control No overall control hold Details
Denbighshire No overall control No overall control hold Details
Flintshire No overall control No overall control hold Details
Gwynedd No overall control No overall control hold Details
Merthyr Tydfil Independent Labour gain Details
Monmouthshire Conservative No overall control gain Details
Neath Port Talbot Labour Labour hold Details
Newport No overall control Labour gain Details
Pembrokeshire Independent Independent hold Details
Powys Independent Independent hold Details
Rhondda Cynon Taff Labour Labour hold Details
Swansea No overall control Labour gain Details
Torfaen No overall control Labour gain Details
Vale of Glamorgan Conservative No overall control gain Details
Wrexham No overall control No overall control hold Details

Isle of Anglesey

Elections to the Isle of Anglesey County Council were postponed for a year, to May 2013, because of a review of electoral arrangements for the island. [4] The result of the postponed election saw the Independents lose their majority, with Plaid Cymru hoping to form a coalition with Labour. [6]

Opinion polling

Date(s)
conducted
Polling organisation/clientSample size Lab Con PC Lib Dem Others Lead
3 May 20122012 Welsh local elections853,59336.0%12.8%15.8%8.1%27.3%20.2%
12-16 Apr 2012 YouGov 103948%17%14%7%14%31%
1 May 2008 2008 Welsh local elections 950,21627.0%15.9%16.7%13.2%28.2%11.1%

Notes

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    References

    1. "Local Election Results 2012" (PDF). National Assembly for Wales. May 2012. Retrieved 17 November 2016.
    2. "Local Elections Handbook 2008" (PDF). Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher, Local Government Chronicle Elections Centre, University of Plymouth. 2008. Retrieved 15 December 2016.
    3. Note that these 2008 results exclude Anglesey for the purposes of comparison and thus do not match up exactly to the 2008 Wales-wide results
    4. 1 2 "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.
    5. "Year Tables | Elections Centre". electionscentre.co.uk. Archived from the original on 18 June 2016.
    6. "Anglesey election: Plaid to seek Labour council deal". BBC News. 3 May 2013. Retrieved 21 August 2022.