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Tories lose control of West Oxfordshire Council in local election results 2022

West Oxfordshire District Council West Oxfordshire District Council candidates in the leisure centreWest Oxfordshire District Council
West Oxfordshire Council candidates received results at the Windrush Leisure Centre in Witney early on Friday

The Conservatives have lost control of West Oxfordshire District Council for the first time in 22 years.

Two cabinet members, including the authority's long-serving deputy leader, lost their seats to Labour and Liberal Democrat candidates respectively.

Elsewhere, Labour has retained control of Oxford City Council but lost some ground to opposition parties.

The Tories retained control of Cherwell District Council, though the Greens, Labour and Lib Dems all gained seats.

David Harvey, who had sat on West Oxfordshire Council since 1998, lost his seat in Witney South to Labour's Michael Brooker by 68 votes. He was the council's deputy leader and cabinet member for climate change.

A third of the council's seats were elected on Thursday. The Conservatives lost the authority to no overall control and they won four of the 16 seats available.

The Lib Dems won eight, Labour three and the Greens one.

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That means that the Conservatives now have 20 councillors and the Liberal Democrats 15.

Labour have nine councillors, three sit as independents and there are now two Green councillors.

Susan Brown
Oxford City Council leader Susan Brown was returned as a councillor in Thursday's election

In Oxford, where half of its city council's 48 seats were elected, Labour won 15, the Greens four, the Lib Dems four and an independent won one.

Those Labour councillors returned included leader Susan Brown and deputy leader Ed Turner.

It means Labour now have 32 seats, the Lib Dems nine, the Greens six and an independent, one.

In the Vale of White Horse, a by-election was held in the Steventon and the Hanneys ward, which had been held by the Thames Valley's Conservative Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Matthew Barber from 2003 until March.

He said he had resigned as a district councillor to spend more time on his PCC work.

Lib Dem Sally Povolotsky is Mr Barber's replacement, having won 878 votes. She beat the Conservatives' Louise Brown, who secured 519 votes, and Independent David Corps, who received 199 votes.

There were no district council elections in South Oxfordshire.

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