Liberal Democrat council leader in triumphant mood after key gains in local elections

The Liberal Democrats have come out on top as the largest party after all the results were announced for the West Oxfordshire District Councilelections.

The Liberal Democrats gained three seats from the Conservative Party, taking seats away from the party in Bampton and Clanfield, Carterton North East and Carterton North West.

The big story of the election was the Labour Party managing to retain their seats in Witney, despite extremely tight results.

The Liberal Democrats are now the largest party with 18 seats, followed by the Conservatives on 17 seats.

Speaking to the Oxford Mail after what has been a very successful set of results for the party, Liberal Democrat leader in the West Oxfordshire District Council Andy Graham said: “We have worked so hard to get here.

“People have voted for change.

“We will act with common sense and will work with other partners to find the common ground so we can get things done.”

Mr Graham said people on the doorstep said they liked the alliance between the Liberal Democrats, the Green Party and the Labour Party.

He said the results demonstrated the alliance should be “done nationally”.

He explained: “No one party has a domain over the electorate and this certainly demonstrates it in West Oxfordshire.”

The Liberal Democrat’s alliance partners made gains, with the Labour Party winning four seats and defending off Conservative challenges in Witney.

The Green Party’s candidate Sandra Simpson picked up a seat for the party in Witney North and this brings their total councillors to three.

In the Witney central ward, the Labour candidate Andrew Lyon won by only 15 votes and at Witney East the party won by 49 votes.

The Labour Party picked up the Chipping Norton seat from the independent candidate Mike Cahill and overall the party were very fortunate to win some very close results.

Reacting to the Labour’s success in Witney, Labour councillor Duncan Enright said: “I’m very pleased and these results are another step in the right direction.

“We have got a great range of councillors and great diversity in our group.

“We also have a range of people across the district.”

Conservative leader at the West Oxfordshire District Council Michelle Mead, who narrowly won the Carterton South ward by only 37 votes, said: “The Liberal Democrats are the largest party but they are still forming a coalition so that won’t look a lot different to be honest.

Ms Mead said the Tories had incurred losses because of the “national picture”.

She said: “On the doorstep, a lot of people said they wanted change and I’m just glad we held on where we did.

“I think the local message did get a lot to many of our local residents.”

Ms Mead said the Conservative Party was unfortunate to lose out to the Labour Party in Witney in some very tight results.

Six of the 17 seats were won by less than 50 votes; proving that this was an election which really did go down to the wire.