Emma Turnbull has been elected as Labour councillor for the University Parks seat in yesterday’s Oxfordshire County Council elections.
Turnbull defeated Liberal Democrat candidate Lucinda Chamberlain, a Brasenose student, by 691 votes to 400. The division includes the majority of Oxford colleges and had been held by Sam Coates of the Green Party.
The University Parks campaign had been marked by controversy, after Lib Dem campaigners accused Turnbull of “lies and slander” about Chamberlain in a campaign leaflet.
Results for the 63 seats of Oxfordshire County Council – which runs 90 per cent of local authority funding – have been announced throughout the day.
The big winners were the Liberal Democrats, who won around 25 per cent of the vote and increased their number of seats from 11 to 13. The Conservatives won 31 seats, failing to achieve an overall majority, which means there is no overall control of the County Council.
Labour lost one seat, moving their total down to 14, while the Greens lost all their council seats.
Matching a similar picture across the country, the Tory share of the vote increased across Oxfordshire to 41 per cent, while the UKIP share fell.
Several students were standing in the elections. Harry Samuels, a third-year classics student at New college, came last in Cowley, but increased the Lib Dem vote share by a third. Lucas Bartholdi–Saad, Wadham, stood unsuccessfully for Labour in Wolvercote and Summertown, receiving a 2.5 per cent swing. Alex Curtis saw his Conservative vote share decrease in Isis.
In the other key Oxford city divisions, Labour won Cowley, Iffley Fields, Isis, Jericho and Osney. Liberal Democrats won Abingdon North, Headington and Quarry, and Wolvercote and Summertown.
Here are the results of seats won by each party:
- Conservatives 31 (–)
- Labour 14 (-1)
- Lib Dem 13 (+2)
- Independent 4 (–)
- Henley Residents Group 1 (+1)
- Greens 0 (-2)
For a full breakdown of the divisions click here.
