2012 Glasgow City Council election

2012 Glasgow City Council election

← 2007 3 May 2012 (2012-05-03) 2017 →
All 79 seats to Glasgow City Council 40 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Leader Gordon Matheson Allison Hunter Martha Wardrop Party Labour SNP Scottish Green Leader's seat Anderston/City Govan Hillhead Last election 45 seats, 43.3% 22 seats, 24.6% 5 seats, 6.5% Seats won 44 27 5 Seat change 1 5 0 Popular vote 67,341 46,947 7,999 Percentage 46.7% 32.6% 5.5% Swing 3.4% 8.0% 1.0%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader David Meikle Margot Clark Stephen Dornan Party Conservative Liberal Democrats Glasgow First Leader's seat Pollokshields Linn Govan Last election 1 seat, 7.7% 5 seats, 7.9% New party Seats before 6 Seats won 1 1 1 Seat change 0 4 1 Popular vote 8,567 4,221 2,544 Percentage 5.9% 2.9% 1.8% Swing 1.8% 5.0% 1.8%
The 21 multi-member wards
Council Leader before election Gordon Matheson Labour Council Leader after election Gordon Matheson Labour

Elections to Glasgow City Council were held on 3 May 2012, the same day as the other Scottish local government elections. The election was the second using 21 new wards created as a result of the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004, each ward elected three or four councillors using the single transferable vote system form of proportional representation.

The election in Glasgow attracted the most attention out of the local elections in Scotland as there were many predictions that the Scottish Labour would lose control of the council due to losses of seats to the Scottish National Party.^[1] The Labour administration had suffered from a number of defections of council members to the newly formed Glasgow First party and controversy surrounding Councillor's salaries and contracts.^[2] In the end, Labour remained in control, losing just one seat, while the SNP gained five. The Scottish Liberal Democrats were reduced to holding just one seat on the council, the same numbers as the Scottish Conservatives (who retained their solitary seat) and Glasgow First. The Scottish Greens retained five seats on the authority.

After the elections Labour again formed a controlling administration on the City Council.