2012 Bristol mayoral election

2012 Bristol mayoral election
15 November 2012
Turnout27.92%
 
Candidate George Ferguson Marvin Rees Geoff Gollop
Party Bristol 1st Labour Conservative
1st Round  31,321 25,896 8,136
Percentage 35.1% 29.1% 9.1%
2nd Round  37,353 31,259 Eliminated
Percentage 54.4% 45.6% Eliminated
 
Grn
Candidate Jon Rogers Daniella Radice
Party Liberal Democrats Green
1st Round  6,202 5,248
Percentage 7.0% 5.9%
2nd Round  Eliminated Eliminated
Percentage Eliminated Eliminated
Mayor before election

New office

 Elected Mayor

George Ferguson
Bristol 1st

The 2012 Bristol mayoral election was an election held on 15 November 2012, to elect the Mayor of Bristol. It was the first Mayoral election held following the approval of a Mayoral system in a referendum in May 2012. It was won by Bristol 1st candidate George Ferguson.

Background

The Local Government Act 2000 required local authorities in the United Kingdom to move from the traditional committee-based system of decision making to one based on an executive, also allowing the possibility of a directly elected mayor.[1] The first directly elected mayor was in Greater London in 2000. Others followed in other authorities, including Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Tower Hamlets, Liverpool and Salford.

Following the passage of The City of Bristol (Mayoral Referendum) Order 2012 by the United Kingdom Parliament in February 2012,[2] a referendum was announced for 3 May 2012.[3] Nine other cities also held referendums on the same day: Birmingham, Bradford, Coventry, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne, Nottingham, Sheffield and Wakefield. In addition, Doncaster Borough Council voted to hold a referendum on the same day to decide whether or not to retain their existing elected mayoral system, having been one of the earliest authorities to adopt the mayoral system in 2001.[4][5]

Campaigning groups supporting (A Mayor for Bristol)[6] and opposing (Bristol Says No!)[7] an elected mayor were established. A debate organised by the University of Bristol took place in the Council House on 22 February 2012.[8]

The result, declared on 4 May 2012 by returning officer Stephen McNamara, was in favour of creating the position. Bristol was the only one of the ten cities voting that day to choose having an elected mayor.[9]

Candidates

Labour

Nominee

Shortlisted candidates

  • Kelvin Blake, former City Councillor for Filwood
  • Peter Hammond, City Council group leader, former City Council leader and City Councillor for Southmead
  • Helen Holland, former City Council leader and City Councillor for Whitchurch Park
  • Dan Norris, former Member of Parliament for Wansdyke and former City Councillor for Brislington West

Liberal Democrats

Nominee

  • Jon Rogers, City Council Deputy leader, City Councillor for Ashley and retired GP[12]

Shortlisted candidates

Potential candidates

Conservative

Nominee

Shortlisted candidates

  • Peter Abrahams, City Council group leader, former City Council Deputy leader and City Councillor for Stoke Bishop
  • Barbara Lewis, former City Councillor for Brislington East

Green

Nominee

  • Daniella Radice, former energy consultant and candidate for City Council in 2007 and 2009[16]

Shortlisted candidates

Three unnamed candidates

Bristol 1st

Nominee

Others

Withdrawn

Campaign

Shortly after beginning his campaign, Ferguson was hit with accusations of "political expediency" for quitting the Liberal Democrats in order to enter as an Independent. Darren Lewis, chair of Bristol Labour Party, told the The Bristol Post "To me and a lot of others, it seems the only reason he chose to resign was due to political expediency. He stayed with the Liberal Democrat party when they were riding high in the polls, he stayed with them through thick and thin – until, in fact, he decided to stand for public office. The only reason that made him resign was simply because he knew the Liberal Democrats are not going to win this election." Ferguson responded "Everyone knows that I am my own person. I'm a member of lots of things but I'm as independent as they come. These remarks are typical example of playing the party game and I am not prepared to do that."[18]

During a September question and answer session both Ferguson and Rogers stated their opposition to a proposed £150 million expansion of Bristol Airport while Rees and Gollop spoke in favour of the plans.[19]

During the final week of the campaign, Simon Woolley director of Operation Black Vote told The Voice if Rees was elected it would be an "Obama moment" as he would the first directly elected Mayor of African descent across Europe. He also said that "Symbolically this too is a very big deal. Marvin stands before the people of Bristol to represent all its citizens fairly and honestly, but he could have stood before its citizens some 280 years ago as commercial chattel, or, crudely put, as a slave. Because from 1730-1745 Bristol was the main slave port for the UK."

By election day, Rees was the 1 to 4 favourite to win with Ferguson at 5 to 1, Rogers at 6 to 1 and Gollop at 25 to 1.[20][21]

Voting system

The election used a supplementary vote system, in which voters express a first and a second preference of candidates.[22]

  • If a candidate receives over 50% of the first preference vote the candidate wins.
  • If no candidate receives an overall majority, i.e., over 50% of first preference votes, the top two candidates proceed to a second round and all other candidates are eliminated.
  • The first preference votes for the remaining two candidates stand in the final count.
  • Voters' ballots whose first and second preference candidates are eliminated are discarded.
  • Voters whose first preference candidates have been eliminated and whose second preference candidate is in the top two have their second preference votes added to the count.

This means that the winning candidate has the support of a majority of voters who expressed a preference among the top two.

Result

On election night, Ferguson would defeat Rees 54.4% to 45.6% becoming the first directly elected Mayor of Bristol.

Bristol Mayoral election 15 November 2012[23]
Party Candidate 1st round 2nd round 1st round votesTransfer votes, 2nd round
Total Of round Transfers Total Of round
Bristol 1st George Ferguson 31,321 35.13% 6,032 37,353 54.44%
​​
Labour Marvin Rees 25,896 29.05% 5,363 31,259 45.56%
​​
Conservative Geoff Gollop 8,136 9.13%
​​
Liberal Democrats Jon Rogers 6,202 6.96%
​​
Green Daniella Radice 5,248 5.89%
​​
Independent Owain George 2,404 2.70%
​​
Independent Spud Murphy 1,855 2.08%
​​
Respect Neil Maggs 1,568 1.76%
​​
Independent Stoney Garnett 1,413 1.58%
​​
TUSC Tom Baldwin 1,412 1.58%
​​
Independent Tim Collins 1,037 1.16%
​​
Independent Philip Pover 994 1.11%
​​
Independent Tony Britt 761 0.85%
​​
Independent Rich Fisher 494 0.55%
​​
The Birthday Party Dave Dobbs 411 0.46%
​​
Turnout 90,273 27.92
Registered electors 323,310
Bristol 1st win

References

  1. ↑ "Local Government Act 2000". legislation.gov.uk. 28 July 2000. Retrieved 8 May 2012.
  2. ↑ "The City of Bristol (Mayoral Referendum) Order 2012". legislation.gov.uk. UK Parliament. 8 February 2012. Retrieved 8 May 2012.
  3. ↑ Staff (22 February 2012). "Bristol elected mayor idea has been debated". BBC News. BBC. Retrieved 8 May 2012.
  4. ↑ "Voters to decide on mayor's future". The Star. 15 May 2012.
  5. ↑ Staff (4 May 2012). "English mayoral referendum results". BBC News. BBC. Retrieved 16 May 2012.
  6. ↑ "A Mayor for Bristol". bristolmayor.org. 2012. Archived from the original on 13 May 2012. Retrieved 8 May 2012.
  7. ↑ "Bristol says NO! | vote no to an elected Mayor in the referendum". bristolsaysno.org. 2012. Archived from the original on 4 May 2012. Retrieved 8 May 2012.
  8. ↑ "Mayoral debate". Bristol University. 16 February 2012. Retrieved 8 May 2012.
  9. ↑ Staff (5 May 2012). "Bristol stands alone as only city to vote for an elected mayor". This is Bristol. Northcliffe Media. Archived from the original on 8 May 2012. Retrieved 5 May 2012.
  10. ↑ "Bristol Labour Party selects city mayor candidate". bbc.co.uk. BBC. 18 June 2012. Retrieved 6 August 2026.
  11. ↑ "Profiles of Labour's candidates for the Bristol mayoralty: Marvin Rees", Labour Uncut, 18 May 2012.
  12. ↑ "Bristol city mayor: Lib Dems name Jon Rogers as candidate". bbc.co.uk. BBC. 3 August 2012. Retrieved 6 August 2026.
  13. ↑ "George Ferguson tipped to become Bristol's first elected mayor". The Bristol Post. 19 May 2012. Archived from the original on 5 July 2012. Retrieved 6 August 2026.
  14. ↑ "Bristol votes in favour of directly-elected mayor". bbc.co.uk. BBC. 4 May 2012. Retrieved 6 August 2026.
  15. ↑ "Conservatives announce their mayoral candidate" Archived 12 May 2014 at the Wayback Machine. Bristol Post. 8 August 2012. Retrieved 11 May 2014.
  16. ↑ "Bristol's Green Party selects candidate for mayor". bbc.co.uk. BBC. 18 July 2012. Retrieved 6 August 2026.
  17. ↑ "Bristol mayor election: Candidate profiles". bbc.co.uk. BBC. 2 November 2012. Archived from the original on 8 November 2012. Retrieved 6 August 2026.
  18. ↑ "Mud begins to fly in race to become Bristol's elected mayor". The Bristol Post. 19 May 2012. Archived from the original on 24 May 2012. Retrieved 7 August 2026.
  19. ↑ "VIDEO: Mayoral candidates oppose Bristol Airport growth". The Bristol Post. 20 September 2012. Archived from the original on 21 September 2012. Retrieved 7 August 2026.
  20. ↑ "Bristol Mayoral Election Next Mayor Betting Odds". oddschecker.com. Oddschecker. 15 November 2012. Archived from the original on 15 November 2012. Retrieved 7 August 2026.
  21. ↑ Zoe Williams (9 November 2012). "Bristol's mayoral election: political karaoke with a testosterone chorus". The Guardian. Bristol, UK. Retrieved 7 August 2026.
  22. ↑ "How to Vote". London Elects. Retrieved 21 August 2015.
  23. ↑ Stephen McNamara (16 November 2012). "Mayoral Election results 2012". bristol.gov.uk. Bristol City Council. Retrieved 6 August 2026.
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