A series of mayoral referendums were held on 3 May 2012 in England's 11 largest cities to determine whether to introduce directly elected mayors to provide political leadership, replacing their current council leaders, who are elected by the local council.

Parliamentary approval was granted for referendums to be held in Birmingham, Bradford, Bristol, Coventry, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne, Nottingham, Sheffield and Wakefield. The government had also intended to hold referendums on whether to introduce directly elected mayors in Leicester and Liverpool, however before the government could order these referendums, the two city councils had already decided to adopt a mayoral system themselves. Leicester City Council voted to introduce a mayor in 2010 without holding a referendum, and an election was held in 2011 for the position. Meanwhile, despite legislation being passed for a referendum in Liverpool, the City Council voted to bypass the referendum and to instead hold a mayoral election on the same day as other local elections in May.

In addition, Doncaster Borough Council decided to hold a referendum on the same day, to determine whether to retain their elected mayoral system, having been one of the earliest authorities to adopt one, in 2001.

On 26 January 2012 electors in Salford voted in favour of an elected mayor by 17,344 votes to 13,653. There was an inaugural 2012 Salford mayoral election on the same day as 2012 United Kingdom local elections.

Directly elected mayorship in the United Kingdom was first established by Tony Blair's Labour Government with the creation of the Mayor of London. The Local Government Act 2000 then provided all councils in England and Wales with a range of options as to how to operate its executive functions, including the option of a directly elected mayor. The Act also provided that a petition of more than 5% of the electorate of a council area could force that council to hold a referendum on whether to introduce a directly elected mayor.

As of January 2011, there had been 40 of these referendums with a further one planned in Salford for 26 January 2012. Of these 40, only 13 had voted in favour of the introduction of a mayor, with 27 rejecting the proposal. These figures included two referendums held in Stoke-on-Trent, the first in 2002 that had approved the creation of a directly elected mayor, and the second in 2008 that had seen the electorate vote to abolish the position.

In 2009, the then Conservative Opposition, who were well ahead in opinion polling for the following year's general election, had said they would introduce elected mayors for England's 12 biggest cities, if they won power. In the 2010 general election, they did win power, albeit in a coalition government with the Liberal Democrats, and Prime Minister David Cameron reaffirmed his previous commitment to hold a series of referendums on whether to introduce mayors for the biggest English cities.

The Department for Communities and Local Government launched a consultation on 1 November 2011 to decide what powers any newly created city mayors could have at their disposal. The list of powers the government considered devolving included power over rail and bus services, skills, apprenticeships, and money to invest in high speed broadband and other economic infrastructure. Shortly after announcing this consultation, the government confirmed that 11 referendums would all be held on 3 May 2012.