| Election Name: | 2012 Plymouth City Council election[1] |
| Type: | Parliamentary |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Party Colour: | yes |
| Previous Election: | 2011 Plymouth City Council election |
| Previous Year: | 2011 |
| Next Election: | 2014 Plymouth City Council election |
| Next Year: | 2014 |
| Seats For Election: | 19 of the 57 seats to Plymouth City Council |
| Majority Seats: | 29 |
| Election Date: | 3 May 2012 |
| Party1: | Labour Party (UK) |
| Last Election1: | 25 |
| Seats Before1: | 25 |
| Seats1: | 12 |
| Seat Change1: | 6 |
| Seats After1: | 31 |
| Popular Vote1: | 25,261 |
| Percentage1: | 43.6% |
| Party2: | Conservative Party (UK) |
| Last Election2: | 32 |
| Seats Before2: | 31 |
| Seats2: | 7 |
| Seat Change2: | 5 |
| Seats After2: | 26 |
| Popular Vote2: | 17,968 |
| Percentage2: | 31.0% |
| Party3: | UKIP |
| Leader3: | None |
| Last Election3: | 0 |
| Seats Before3: | 1 |
| Seats3: | 0 |
| Seat Change3: | 1 |
| Seats After3: | 0 |
| Popular Vote3: | 11,935 |
| Percentage3: | 20.6% |
| Map Size: | 300px |
| Council control | |
| Posttitle: | Council control after election |
| Before Election: | Conservative |
| After Election: | Labour |
The 2012 Plymouth City Council election took place on 3 May 2012 to elect members of Plymouth City Council in England. This was on the same day as other local elections. The election was won by the Labour Party, who gained control of the council from the Conservative Party.
Plymouth City Council held local elections on 7 May 2012 as part of the 2012 local elections.[2] The council elects its councillors in thirds, with a third being up for election every year for three years, with no election in the fourth year.[3] [4] Councillors defending their seats in this election were previously elected in 2008. In that election, fourteen Conservative candidates and five Labour candidates were elected.[5]
Ahead of the election, the council was split between the Labour Party and the Conservative Party, with the Conservatives having held a majority for five years.[6]
|-| colspan=2 style="text-align: right; margin-right: 1em" | Total| style="text-align: right;" | 19| colspan=5 || style="text-align: right;" | 57,936| style="text-align: right;" |
Note: All changes in vote share are in comparison to the corresponding 2008 election.
The Conservatives lost their overall majority on the council to the Labour Party.
After the previous election, the composition of the council was:
| 32 | 25 | |
| Conservative | Labour |
Before this election, the composition of the council was:
| 31 | 25 | 1 | |
| Conservative | Labour | UKIP |
After this election, the composition of the council was:
| 31 | 26 | |
| Labour | Conservative |
Plymouth City Council maintains records of past election results.[7]
Note: Peter Berrow won this seat for the Conservative Party the previous time it was contested in 2008, but defected to UKIP in January 2012.[8]
Following the election, the Labour Party had an overall majority on the council, meaning their group leader Tudor Evans returned as council leader. Labour's newly elected councillor in Devonport, Kate Taylor, was one of the youngest councillors in the country at eighteen years old.[9] Despite significantly increasing it's overall vote count, the UK Independence Party lost its only seat on the council.[10]