Liberal Democrats win control of Oxfordshire County Council

“And it was all… yellow.”

Or orange. Or gold. We’ve never been quite sure what the LibDems’ signature colour is. But Oxfordshire is painted in it tonight.

There are 69 seats on Oxfordshire County Council. At the next council meeting, 36 of them will be occupied by Liberal Democrat councillors:

The final totals, by party, are (with changes from 2021, when there were 63 seats):

• 🔶 Liberal Democrat 36 (+15)
• 🌹 Labour 12 (-4)
• 🔵 Conservative 10 (-11)
• 💚 Green 7 (+4)
• ➡️ Reform UK 1 (+1)
• 🟪 Independent Oxford Alliance 1 (+1)
• ◻️ Henley Residents Group 1 (=)
• ◻️ Independent 1

After 2021’s election, the LibDems, Greens and Labour formed a coalition to win control of the council. Latterly, that was reduced to a LibDem/Green minority administration. That won’t be necessary any more: the LibDems can govern on their own.

Party by party

The Liberal Democrats’ successes were remarkable. Rural divisions that have been Conservative for living memory – Sonning Common, Deddington, Brize Norton & Carterton East – turned yellow. (Or whatever.) Bicester flipped from a Conservative stronghold to 100% Liberal Democrat.

There were clear personal votes at work here, too. Council leader Liz Leffman scored the highest single tally with 1828 votes in Charlbury & Wychwood. Headington & Quarry could have been a nail-biter: in fact, Roz Smith’s 1451 votes were more than twice the nearest challenger. But South Oxfordshire, the Vale, and Cherwell are studded with new Liberal Democrat faces, too. It’s partly a reflection of the party’s national confidence, but can’t help but be taken as a vindication of the policies the county (and LibDem districts) have followed in the last four years – such as 20mph limits, a focus on climate change, and investing in buses and cycling.

Labour didn’t have a great day, down from 16 seats to 12. Still, it could have been much worse. The Greens bloodied them in Oxford, yet the independent threat turned out to be a paper tiger. Leader Liz Brighouse and deputy Brad Baines live to fight another day. The party will now be the official opposition on OCC. Their biggest loss was Duncan Enright in Witney North & East, narrowly lost to the Conservatives.

About the best that can be said of the Conservatives is that they avoided wipeout. Scant consolation for Eddie Reeves, their group leader, who moved from Banbury Calthorpe to the ostensibly more winnable seat of Cropredy & Hook Norton… only to lose to LibDem Chris Brant. The party is now clustered around a rump in western Oxfordshire, plus a remnant presence in Banbury. With former leader Ian Hudspeth failing to recapture his old Woodstock seat, the county council group will be looking for a new leader – the favourite being combative Hanborough & Hailey councillor Liam Walker.

The Greens had a fabulous day. They entered the election holding three seats: they now have seven, including Bartlemas and Parks in Oxford, and two more rural newcomers. Though the LibDems don’t need their help numerically, they look likely to be a strong voice in the council chamber.

The Independent Oxford Alliance won’t be. They looked set to win four seats in Oxford with a good chance at two more. In the event, they won just one (Rose Hill & Littlemore), with an allied independent taking Cowley. It is an underwhelming performance from a party that won four seats on Oxford City Council just a year ago.

Reform UK were the wildcards and we couldn’t call their performance in advance. In the end, they won one seat, Didcot South. Their presence certainly affected outcomes elsewhere – though we’re still not sure exactly how…

Notes from the count

It was a day full of surprises. What on earth happened in Banbury? Labour gained two from the Conservatives. The Conservatives gained one from Labour. Reform were just 55 votes away from winning a seat with an already-suspended candidate, which might have been embarrassing. The irrepressible Kieron Mallon sailed on through regardless.

We expected Chinnor to be a three-way fight, but not between the LibDems, Greens and Reform. Nor did we expect Shrivenham to be Green vs Conservative vs Reform. If Reform do come good on their promise to energise ‘pavement politics’ rather than relying on expensive maildrops, these results will show them where they might fruitfully begin.

Speaking of Reform, Abingdon South (a LibDem hold) saw a remarkable showing by independent Christopher Cubby. But the ballot paper mistakenly showed a Reform UK logo by his name. Did that help or hinder his cause?

The tally of independents is nominally down from a few days ago. That’s just because councillors tend to drift away from parties during the four-year term. Don’t be surprised to see another half-dozen independents emerging in the next few years. One independent, Stefan Gawrysiak in Henley, put on a remarkable performance, beating Olympic rower James Cracknell (Conservative) across the line.

There were some very close calls. Plenty of seats didn’t have a single candidate over 1000, but the Conservatives’ Ted Fenton won Bampton & Carterton South with 1360 to the LibDems’ 1313. (We saw more Conservative posters in Bampton this time than anywhere else in Oxfordshire.) Bicester West saw LibDem John Shiri pip incumbent Les Sibley with 669 votes to 666, and we’re still not quite sure why the Conservatives put up a candidate here, given that Les Sibley sat with them in the same voting bloc. James Robertshaw (Con) beat Duncan Enright (Lab) in Witney North & East by just 1078 to 1059.

Spare a thought for the losing councillors. Some have put years into their communities, and will lose their (albeit part time) job. Sometimes this is down to the vagaries of national politics, rather than what they themselves have or haven’t done. Councillors, of all stripes, do not always get the credit they deserve.

We live tweeted and bleated the results. The buzz was palpable, mainly thanks to a large bee that kept us company for much of it. Thanks for following along, if you did. You made us laugh. And thank you, too, to the Oxfordshire County Council staff who ran a smooth operation all day, with headline acts Martin Reeves and Anita Bradley as returning officer and deputy, and after an initial wobble, a faultless live-stream.

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