2012 Glasgow City Council election
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 results of the Local Governance Act 2004, each ward elected three or four councillors using the single transferable vote system a 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 Party would lose control of the council due to losses of seats to the Scottish National Party. 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. In the end, Labour remained in control, losing just 1 seat, while the SNP gained 5. The Scottish Liberal Democrats were reduced to holding just 1 seat on the Council, the same numbers as the Glasgow First party and the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party who retained their solitary seat. The Scottish Green Party retained 5 seats on the authority.
After the elections Labour again formed a controlling administration on the City Council.
Election result
Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes. The net gain/loss and percentage changes relate to the result of the previous Scottish local elections on 3 May 2007. This may differ from other published sources showing gain/loss relative to seats held at dissolution of Scotland's councils.Districts summary
!rowspan=2 align="left"|Ward! %
!Cllrs
! %
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!rowspan=2|Total
Cllrs
!colspan=2 bgcolor="" | Lab
!colspan=2 bgcolor="" | SNP
!colspan=2 bgcolor=""| Conservative
!colspan=2 bgcolor="" | Green
!colspan=2 bgcolor="" | Lib Dem
!colspan=2 bgcolor="" | Glasgow First
!colspan=2 bgcolor="white"| Others
Ward results
Ward 1: Linn
Ward 2: Newlands/Auldburn
2007: 2xLab; 1xSNP2012: 2xLab; 1xSNP
2007-2012 Change: No change
Ward 3: Greater Pollok
2007: 3xLab; 1xSNP2012: 2xLab; 2xSNP
2007-2012 Change: SNP gain one seat from Lab
Ward 4: Craigton
2007: 2xLab; 1xSNP; 1xSol2012: 2xLab; 2xSNP
2007-2012 Change: SNP gain one seat from Sol
Ward 5: Govan
2007: 3xLab; 1xSNP2012: 2xLab; 1xSNP; 1xGlasgowFirst
2007-2012 Change: GlasgowFirst gain one seat from Lab
Ward 6: Pollokshields
2007: 1xLab; 1xSNP; 1xCon2012: 1xLab; 1xSNP; 1xCon
2007-2012 Change: No change
Ward 7: Langside
2007: 1xSNP; 1xLab; 1xLib Dem2012: 1xSNP; 1xLab; 1xGreen
2007-2012 Change: Green gain one seat from Lib Dem
Result based on original count
Recount
It was announced by Glasgow City Council on Thursday 10 May 2012 that Box 139, containing approximately 385 papers, was not counted in the vote despite them being registered and scanned. Permission was obtained from Glasgow Sheriff Court to examine the ballots and rerun the calculation. The two highest scoring candidates were mathematically assured of their place, however the third candidate, Liam Hainey, could have had his election overturned. After the ballots were rescanned on 16 May 2012 and the result recalculated, he retained his seat.Ward 8: Southside Central
2007: 2xLab; 1xSNP; 1xGRN2012: 2xLab; 2xSNP
2007-2012 Change: SNP gain one seat from Green
Ward 9: Calton
2007: 2xLab; 1xSNP2012: 2xLab; 1xSNP
2007-2012 Change: No change
Ward 10: Anderston/City
2007: 2xLab; 1xSNP; 1xGRN2012: 2xLab; 1xSNP; 1xGRN
2007-2012 Change: No change
Ward 11: Hillhead
2007: 1xSNP; 1xGRN; 1xLib Dem; 1xLab2012: 1xSNP; 1xGRN; 2xLab
2007-2012 change: Labour gain one seat from Lib Dem
Ward 12: Partick West
2007: 1xSNP; 1xLib Dem; 1xLab; 1xGRN2012: 2xSNP; 1xLab; 1xGRN
2007-2012 change: SNP gain one seat from Lib Dem
Ward 13: Garscadden/Scotstounhill
2007: 3xLab; 1xSNP2012: 3xLab; 1xSNP
2007-2012 change: No change
Ward 14: Drumchapel/Anniesland
2007: 3xLab; 1xSNP2012: 3xLab; 1xSNP
2007-2012 change: No change
Ward 15: Maryhill/Kelvin
2007: 2xLab; 1xSNP; 1xLib Dem2012: 2xLab; 2xSNP;
2007-2012 change: SNP gain one seat from Lib Dem
Ward 16: Canal
2007: 2xLab; 1xSNP; 1xGRN2012: 2xLab; 1xSNP; 1xGRN
2007-2012 change: No change
Ward 17: Springburn
2007: 2xLab; 1xSNP2012: 2xLab; 1xSNP
2007-2012 Change: No change
Ward 18: East Centre
2007: 3xLab; 1xSNP2012: 3xLab; 1xSNP
2007-2012 changes: No change
Ward 19: Shettleston
2007: 3xLab; 1xSNP2012: 3xLab; 1xSNP
2007-2012 Change: No change
- = Father of incumbent in ward 20.
Ward 20: Baillieston
2012: 2xLab; 2xSNP
2007-2012 changes: No change
Ward 21: North East
2007: 3xLab; 1xSNP2012: 3xLab; 1xSNP
2007-2012 changes: No change
- = Outgoing Councillor from a different Ward.
Post Election Changes
- † On 23 July 2013 Govan SNP Cllr Allison Hunter died after a battle with cancer. A by-election was held on 10 October 2013 and was won by Labour's John Kane.
- †† On 7 October 2013 Shettleston Labour Cllr George Ryan died suddenly. A by-election was held on 5 December 2013 and the seat was retained by Labour's Martin Neill.
- ††† On 2 October 2014 Greater Pollok Labour Cllr Aileen Colleran resigned from the party and became an Independent amid Post-Referendum fallout.
- †††† On 6 February 2015 Govan Glasgow First Cllr Stephen Dornan joined the SNP and will now sit with the SNP group.
- ††††† On 14 May 2015 Langside Scottish Green Party Cllr Liam Hainey resigned his seat for family and health reasons. A by-election was held on 6 August 2015 and was won by the SNP's Anna Richardson.
- †††††† On 14 May 2015 Calton SNP Cllr Alison Thewliss resigned her seat after having been elected as an MP for the constituency of Glasgow Central. A by-election was held on 6 August 2015 and was won by the SNP's Greg Hepburn.
- ††††††† On 14 May 2015 Anderston/City SNP Cllr Martin Docherty resigned his after having been elected as an MP for the constituency of West Dunbartonshire. A by-election was held on 6 August 2015 and was won by the SNP's Eva Bolander.
- †††††††† On 10 June 2015 Craigton SNP Cllr Iris Gibson retired due to ill health. A by-election was held on 6 August and was won by the SNP's Alex Wilson.
- ††††††††† On 19 February 2016 East Centre Labour Cllr Russell Robertson defected from the Labour Party and joined the SNP.
- †††††††††† On 14 March 2016 Anderston/City Labour Cllr Gordon Matheson resigned his seat as he had been appointed a visiting Professor at Strathclyde University. A by-election took place on 5 May 2016 and it was won by the SNP's Angus Millar.
- ††††††††††† On 24 April 2016 Canal SNP Cllr Billy McAllister resigned from the party and became an Independent claiming that the SNP leadership were intolerant to free speech.
- †††††††††††† On 25 July 2016 Garscadden/Scotstounhill Labour Cllr John Kelly died as a result of Motor Neuron Disease. A by-election was held on 6 October 2016 and was won by the SNP's Chris Cunningham.
- ††††††††††††† On 21 November 2016 Canal Labour Cllr Chris Kelly resigned from the council to take up a politically restricted position at HMRC. No by-election was called due to the resignation's proximity to the May 2017 elections.
By-elections since 2013