2012 Welsh local elections

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.

2012 Welsh local elections

← 2008 3 May 2012 (2012-05-03) 2017 →
All 1,235 seats to 21 of 22 Welsh councils[1]
First party Second party   Leader Carwyn Jones Leanne Wood Party Labour Plaid Cymru Leader since 10 December 2009 16 March 2012 Last election 340 seats, 27.0%[2][3] 198 seats, 16.7% Seats won 577 158 Seat change 237 40 Popular vote 304,466 134,201 Popular vote (%) 35.6% 15.7% Swing (pp) 8.6% 1.0%   Third party Fourth party   Leader Andrew RT Davies Kirsty Williams Party Conservative Liberal Democrats Leader since 14 July 2011 8 December 2008 Last election 172 seats, 15.9% 163 seats, 13.2% Seats won 105 72 Seat change 67 92 Popular vote 108,580 68,619 Popular vote (%) 12.7% 8.0% Swing (pp) 3.2% 5.2%
Colours denote the winning party with outright control (left), and the largest party by ward (right) Key:   Labour   Independent   Plaid Cymru   Conservative   No Overall Control   No election held

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

Party		Votes[5]	%	+/-	Councils	+/-	Seats	+/-
	Labour	304,466	35.6%	8.6%	10	8	577	237
	Independent	201,110	23.5%	1.5%	2	1	286	25
	Plaid Cymru	134,201	15.7%	1.0%	0		158	40
	Conservative	108,580	12.7%	3.2%	0	2	105	68
	Liberal Democrats	68,619	8.0%	5.2%	0		72	92
	Green	10,310	1.2%	0.5%	0		0
	UKIP	2,552	0.3%	0.1%	0		2	2
	Other	25,542	3.0%	1.3%	0		25	15
	No overall control	n/a	n/a	n/a	9	5	n/a	n/a

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

Councils

Council	2008 result		2012 result		Details
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/client	Sample size	Lab	Con	PC	Lib Dem	Others	Lead
3 May 2012	2012 Welsh local elections	853,593	36.0%	12.8%	15.8%	8.1%	27.3%	20.2%
12-16 Apr 2012	YouGov	1039	48%	17%	14%	7%	14%	31%
1 May 2008	2008 Welsh local elections	950,216	27.0%	15.9%	16.7%	13.2%	28.2%	11.1%

Notes