Election: OULC and OUCA lose out

{nomultithumb}Check the final election results here

The Liberal Democrats have conceded control of Oxford City Council to Labour, despite strong support in student wards.

Voters in Oxford headed to polling stations on May 1st to choose 24 of the city’s 48 councillors.

Nationally, the local elections were the first opportunity for voters to
give their verdict on Gordon Brown’s premiership. They were also Lib Dem leader
Nick Clegg’s first electoral outing since becoming party leader.

Labour won four more seats than the Lib Dems, increasing their number in the Council to 22. This is short of a majority, but they are now the largest party by some margin.

Labour will be particularly pleased to win Blackbird Leys, beating the Independent Working Class Association (IWCA ), who have lost two of their seats, both to Labour.

The Lib Dems had signs of strong student support by winning in Carfax and Holywell. These wards cover almost all the colleges and residences in the city centre.

The Green Party won two seats, fewer than the previous election in 2006.

The Conservatives notably failed to win any seats, with both their councillors – Lib Dem defectors Paul Sargent and Tia MacGregor losing their seats to Labour.

Close results

In the last elections in 2006, Lib Dem candidate Richard
Huzzey won Holywell, with the Greens‘ Matthew Morton coming second with half as many votes as
Huzzey. The Greens took Carfax with only a 23 vote lead over the Lib Dems.

Of the 25 seats up for election in 2006, Labour won 10, with
the Lib Dems winning 9, the Green Party 5 and the Independent Working Class Association winning 1.

The Lib Dems had been running a minority administration of the
City Council, with Labour only four seats ahead, so the stakes were high with two leading parties neck-and-neck for most of the results.

Nationally, key issues centred around cuts in services, such
as post offices, rubbish collection, and schools, but also antisocial behaviour,
the environment and council tax.

In Oxford, most
candidates had been promoting environmental policies and plans aimed at making Oxford
safer at night. Two other hot topics were animal rights protestors and tuition
fees.

Holywell candidates

Holywell ward was expected to see a close fight, with two
student candidates: Kieran Hutchinson Dean, Labour candidate and student at
Wadham, and Alex Stafford, Conservative candidate and student at St Benet’s.

Yet in the end Lib Dem candidate Nathan Pyle, who works at St John’s and has a DJ slot at the Purple Turtle, won by a strong margin.

The results mean the two majority student wards are now both under Lib Dem control.

The final composition of Oxford City Council is now: Labour – 23, Lib Dem – 16, Green – 7, and IWCA – 2. 

Final election results:

Holywell Ward

Carfax Ward

Council Seats Won:

More results may be found at Oxford City Council’s website.