Local elections 2026: Oxford Greens’ ‘incredible night’

On Thursday, May 7, the city took to the polls, with half of the council’s seats up for grabs, one in each of its 24 wards.

There is no overall majority at the local authority, which was previously run by a Labour minority administration with 21 seats.

Now, the council makeup is as follows: Labour with 20 seats (-1), Green 13 seats (+4) and Liberal Democrats nine seats (no change).

Independent Cllr Sajjad Malik, part of the Real Independents group, held his seat, meaning the group maintains its two seats (no change).

Independent Oxford Alliance did not gain any new seats, but does hold four on the council (no change).

Oxford Independent Group now has zero seats (-2), both councillors who were members of the group did not stand for re-election this year.

Conservatives and Reform have no seats and gained no seats at this election.

What now?

Party groups and their leaders are now digesting” and having “conversations” about who will run the council.

The biggest gains of the night were by the Greens in a vote that Cllr Chris Jarvis said showed a wish for “change” in the city.

After a campaign which included “leafletting in the rain” and “a few run-ins with dogs” for Mr Jarvis, who is “terrified” of the pets, he was pleased with the historic wins.

The councillor said: “Over the next few days, we’ll be having conversations with other parties because no party has a majority on the council now, and so we need to work out how we’re going to run the council going forward.”

Mr Jarvis said he was “very, very glad that Reform didn’t win any seats” and his group would be unwilling to work with them or the Independent Oxford Alliance (IOA).

He stated: “We’re open to talks with other parties.”

The Liberal Democrats are the likeliest partners in a Green Oxford city council coalition, but together the two parties still fall short of a majority.

Earlier in the night, the leader of the Lib Dem group, Cllr Dr Christopher Smowton, said he was hoping for a “change of control” at the council, adding “there is a lot still up in the air”.

Lib Dems at the city council count (Image: Isabella Harris/NQ)

The party held all of its seats that were up for election, but made no gains in other wards.

With Mr Jarvis stating the Greens would not turn to the IOA, it is not entirely clear what shape a coalition administration could take.

The IOA does hold a number of seats on the council, but, only having formed in 2023, none of these were up for election this year.

Despite a hope expressed by IOA leader, Cllr David Henwood, to “take a few Labour scalps” and “a few Liberal Democrats as well”, the IOA took no new seats.

Labour has lost two seats and made a gain in what Labour group leader, Cllr Susan Brown, described as a “rollercoaster of a night”.

IOA at the city council count (Image: Isabella Harris/NQ)

Labour celebrate a win at the count (Image: Isabella Harris/NQ)

The party had the most to lose with Labour 11 seats up for election in what has historically been a stronghold council for it.

She said: “At the end of the night we have got nearly the same number of councillors that we started the night with.”

Ms Brown added: “I think we’ll want to digest the results of the elections.

“We were very proud in Oxford Labour to stand on our record.

“We put that in front of the people of Oxford, and we have ended the night winning more seats than any other party.”

Cllr Susan Brown (Image: Isabella Harris/NQ)

Labour is still the biggest party on the council, despite an overall loss of one seat, and had been running a minority administration previously.

The party will also be looking into its options moving forward.