| 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]
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.
After the election, the composition of the council was:
| valign=top colspan="2" style="width: 100px" | Party | valign=top style="width: 126px" | Previous council | valign=top style="width: 94px" | New council | valign=top style="width: 30px" | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labour | align=center | 19 | align=center | 30 | align=center | 11 | |
| Conservatives | align=center | 26 | align=center | 16 | align=center | 10 | |
| Liberal Democrat | align=center | 3 | align=center | 2 | align=center | 1 | |
| Total | 48 | 48 | |||||
| Working majority | |||||||