Oxford Green party statement for local elections 2026

Oxford will go to the polls on May 7, in what is likely to be the last ever election for the city council.

There will be 24 seats up for grabs, one in every ward.

Below is the statement shared by Green, and there is more to come from the other parties and groups fighting for votes in the city.

Leader of the Green Group in the council, Cllr Chris Jarvis, shared the following pitch:

 Green Party candidates, councillors and volunteers have spoken to thousands of residents across Oxford in recent months. In those conversations, we’ve heard the same message again and again.

People feel that the Labour Party – both nationally and locally – has let them down. People feel that our city and our country are heading in the wrong direction. And people feel that we desperately need a change.

The Green Party offers that change.

We are the party that is willing to take on the rigged economic system – an economic system where no matter how hard you work, for many people there just isn’t enough money in the bank account after we’ve paid rent to the landlord and bills to the privatised utility companies.

We are the party that is willing to take the action we need on the climate and ecological emergency, to protect the planet we live on, the air we breathe and the green spaces that we cherish.

And we are the party that understands that our city and our country are made stronger by diversity, that we must resist attempts to divide our communities and that refugees are welcome here.

The Green Party has a bold vision for how we can tackle these issues and how we can transform our city for the better.

We would get a proper grip on the housing crisis by introducing an ‘Oxford Living rent’ – modelled on the Oxford Living Wage scheme – in order to stop spiralling private sector rents, by increasing the proportion of social housing in new developments, and by ensuring new developments are prioritised for housing, rather than for things like lab space.

We have major plans to address the climate and nature emergency – investing significantly in local renewable energy, ending the use of toxic weedkillers in our city, and ensuring our parks and green spaces are improved, enhanced and well looked after.

And we want to work closely with our diversity communities to support them to thrive – giving more support to community groups, working to make our city accessible for everyone to get around and doing everything we can to welcome refugees in Oxford.

If that’s the kind of city you want to see, you can make it happen by voting Green on 7 May.