2012 Southampton City Council election explained

Election Name:2012 Southampton City Council election
Type:Parliamentary
Ongoing:no
Party Colour:yes
Previous Election:2011 Southampton City Council election
Previous Year:2011
Next Election:2014 Southampton City Council election
Next Year:2014
Seats For Election:A third of seats to Southampton City Council
Majority Seats:23
Election Date:3 May 2012
Party1:Labour Party (UK)
Seats1:30
Seat Change1:11
Popular Vote1:25,311
Percentage1:43.7%
Swing1:17.4%
Party2:Conservative Party (UK)
Seats2:16
Seat Change2:10
Popular Vote2:20,785
Percentage2:35.9%
Swing2:11.5%
Party3:Liberal Democrats (UK)
Seats3:2
Seat Change3:1
Popular Vote3:5,660
Percentage3:9.8%
Swing3:8.8%
Map Size:320px
Majority party
Posttitle:Majority party after election
Before Election:Conservative
After Election:Labour

The 2012 Southampton Council election took place on Thursday 3 May 2012 to elect members of Southampton City Council in Hampshire, England. One third of the council (16 seats) was scheduled for election, whilst two additional vacancies, caused by the resignation of sitting councillors, were also filled in Bitterne Park and Peartree wards, meaning a total of 18 of the city's 48 seats were elected.

The ruling Conservative party had come under intense public scrutiny for their sweeping programme of privatisation of council services and implementing pay cuts to council jobs, which led to union disputes.[1] Labour won a majority of the seats being contested, and also gained overall control of the council from the Conservatives.[2]

Election result

This summary box compares each party vote share with the corresponding elections in 2008, the last elections at which the majority of this tranche of seats were elected.

Changes in council composition

After the election, the composition of the council was:

valign=top colspan="2" style="width: 100px"Partyvalign=top style="width: 126px"Previous councilvalign=top style="width: 94px"New councilvalign=top style="width: 30px"+/-
Labouralign=center 19align=center 30align=center 11
Conservativesalign=center 26align=center 16align=center 10
Liberal Democratalign=center 3align=center 2align=center 1
Total4848
Working majority

Notes and References

  1. News: Local government: a new era of co-operation . Anna Bawden . . 25 June 2013 . 14 September 2018.
  2. News: Vote 2012 - Southampton . 14 September 2018 . .