Candidates for wards representing Oxford University students have clashed over key issues ahead of city council elections on May 3.
The hustings at Oriel College on Wednesday evening saw prospective councillors for the Carfax, Holywell and North Wards pitch themselves to an audience of students and local residents, facing a multitude of questions on topics ranging from education to wheelchair accessibility in the city centre.
The twelve candidates include three current Oxford finalists, Alex Harvey, Sam Hollick, and Robin McGhee. There were also two University members of staff: Anne-Marie Canning and John Howson.
Classic battlegrounds of housing and bicycle theft were hotly debated. Accusations were levelled at Labour and the Greens by the Liberal Democrats, with their candidate for Holywell, Robin McGhee, bemoaning a stifling of housing availability. He said that the two parties “just don’t get the point” about the use of caps.
However, Adam Ramsay, Green candidate for Carfax, later released a statement denying that he supported housing quotas.
The Conservatives currently have no councillors in Oxford and are expected to suffer from the factor of incumbency on a national level.
Tim Patmore, Conservative candidate for Carfax, comparing Oxford to other local authorities with “less council tax and regulations”, said that he “would like to transform Oxford into a town more like Banbury”.
His fellow party candidate for Holywell, Robert Sargent, said, “Bringing in a couple of Tory councillors will bring some sanity to the city.”
The Green Party is looking to boost their presence in Oxford, one of places in the country where they are best represented. Amongst other proposals they pledged “sensible measures” to bring back the recently scrapped Educational Maintenance Allowance (EMA).
When asked to explain how he would fund the EMA, Ramsay vowed to tax four- and five-star hotels, bluntly declaring, “We want to take it off rich people.” He believes that government policy has led to pupils being unable to finish school, and remarked, “In the city famous for education, I think it’s a disgrace.’
Robin McGhee, however, pointed out, “City councils don’t actually have the powers to do that.”
Ramsay’s Labour rival Anne-Marie Canning, defending the council’s record, maintained that “the Labour vote’s the only vote for a student”.
National politics inevitably also framed the debate. Adam Ramsay claimed, “We’re seeing inequality widen across the country at the fastest rate we’ve seen since Victorian Britain.”
Labour Party candidate for Holywell, Alex Harvey, took a swipe at the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government: “They can’t play politics with people’s lives in the name of deficit reduction.”
“This is a government that is both economically incompetent and morally incompetent.”
Robin McGhee was defiant in the face of perceived popular disaffection with the Lib Dems. “I haven’t been amazingly pleased with everything we’ve done in government, but I’ve been proud by the way we’ve prevented the Tories from doing some very bad things indeed.”
Previously a minority administration, Oxford City Council became a majority Labour council after the last local elections in 2010. Labour currently hold 26 out of 48 seats, whilst the Lib Dems hold 16 seats and the Greens hold 5.
Polling will take place between 7am – 10pm next Thursday.
The full list of candidates is as follows:
Carfax: Anne-Marie Canning, LAB; Tim Patmore, CON; Adam Ramsay, GRN; Duncan Stott, LD. Colleges: Balliol, Blackfriars, Brasenose, Exeter, Jesus, Keble, Lincoln, Pembroke, Regent’s Park, St John’s, St Peter’s, Nuffield, St Benet’s, St Cross, Trinity
Holywell: Alex Harvey, LAB; Sam Hollick, GRN; Robin McGhee, LD; Robert Sargent, CON. Colleges: All Souls, Christ Church, Corpus, Harris Manchester, Hertford, Linacre, Magdalen, Mansfield, Merton, New, Oriel, Queen’s, St Catz, Teddy Hall, University, Wadham
North: Sushila Dhall, GRN; James Fry, LAB; John Howson, LD; Samantha Mandrup, CON. Colleges: Green Templeton, Kellogg, LMH, Somerville, St Anne’s, St Antony’s
Colleges in other wards – St Margaret’s: St Hugh’s, Wolfson; St Mary’s: St Hilda’s; Jericho and Osney: Worcester
