The 2021 Oxfordshire County Council election took place on 6 May 2021 alongside the other

local elections In many parts of the world, local elections take place to select office-holders in local government, such as mayors and councillors. Elections to positions within a city or town are often known as "municipal elections". Their form and conduct vary ...

. All 63 seats of the

Oxfordshire County Council Oxfordshire County Council is the county council (upper-tier local authority) for the non-metropolitan county of Oxfordshire in the South East of England. It is an elected body responsible for some local government services in the county, includ ...

were contested. The council is composed of 61 divisions, each electing either one or two councillors, all elected by

FPTP In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast their ...

. Since the last election in

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, there had been some changes in seat composition. In April 2018, Cllr. Pete Handley was suspended from the

Conservatives Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

after calling another councillor a derogatory term. In November 2019, there was a by-election to replace the outgoing Independent councillor in Wallingford; Dr Pete Sudbury of the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...

won the ensuing contest, providing the party representation after being wiped out at the last election. Three other Conservative councillors resigned the whip and became independents. The elections took place at the same time as the Thames Valley Police and Crime Commissioner Election, which was due to have been held in 2020, but was delayed by the

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. Although initial counts suggested the

were on 22 seats, and

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

on 15, there were errors in the Banbury Ruscote division where the Labour vote was mistaken for the Conservative vote and vice versa; this was successfully challenged in the High Court by Labour, and so the final result is 21 seats for the Conservatives and 16 for Labour.

Results summary

Aftermath

The Conservatives suffered big losses in the election, including the County Council leader Ian Hudspeth. The Liberal Democrats, Labour and Greens formed a coalition after the election, therefore ousting the Conservatives for the first time since the Council's formation in 1973. Previously, from '01-'05 the Conservatives had governed in coalition with the Liberal Democrats, '05-'13 in a majority and since '13 working with independent councillors. Initially, the newly minted leader of the Conservative group proposed a coalition with Labour alongside the one remaining independent councillor, Les Sibley, and Stefan Gawrysiak of the Henley Residents Group. Cllr. Reeves said: "If you look at two things: council tax and the approach to housing and growth, there is actually far more, if we are honest, in common between Labour and the Conservatives than between Lib Dems and Conservatives." At the same time, talks continued between the Liberal Democrats and the Labour groups. While the Liberal Democrats also formed an alliance with the Green group to form a single group on the council, which will hold 24 councillors. Eventually, later in May, it was revealed that the Liberal Democrat, Labour and Green councillors had formed an agreement, termed "The Oxfordshire Fair Deal Alliance" which would run the council in a coalition. The new leader of the council will be Cllr. Liz Leffman (Lib Dem) while the deputy leader will be Cllr. Liz Brighouse (Labour). The cabinet will be split between four Liberal Democrats, three Labour and one Green councillor. The new Chair of the county council will be Cllr. John Howson (Lib Dem) with the Vice0-Chair being Cllr. Susannah Pressel (Labour).

Results by division

Cherwell

Oxford

South Oxfordshire

Vale of White Horse

West Oxfordshire

References

{{2021 United Kingdom local elections Oxfordshire County Council elections 2021 English local elections 2020s in Oxfordshire