2021 Oxfordshire County Council election

2021 Oxfordshire County Council election
← 2017 May 6, 2021 (2021-05-06) 2025 →
All 63 seats to Oxfordshire County Council
32 seats needed for a majority
  First party Second party Third party
  Blank Blank Blank
Party Conservative Liberal Democrats Labour
Seats before 27 13 13
Seats won 21 21 16
Seat change Decrease10 Increase8 Increase2
Popular vote 80,993 56,675 46,997
Percentage 36.9% 25.8% 21.4%
  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
  Blank Blank Blank
Party Green Independent Henley Residents
Seats before 1 8 1
Seats won 3 1 1
Seat change Increase3 Decrease3 Steady
Popular vote 26,302 5,238 2,295
Percentage 12.0% 2.4% 1.0%
Map showing the results of the 2021 Oxfordshire County Council elections.
Council control before election

No Overall Control

 Council control after election

No Overall Control

The 2021 Oxfordshire County Council election took place on 6 May 2021 alongside the other local elections. All 63 seats of the Oxfordshire County Council were contested.[1] The council is composed of 61 divisions, each electing either one or two councillors, all elected by FPTP.

Since the last election in 2017, there had been some changes in seat composition. In April 2018, Cllr. Pete Handley was suspended from the Conservatives after calling another councillor a derogatory term.[2] In November 2019, there was a by-election to replace the outgoing Independent councillor in Wallingford; Dr Pete Sudbury of the Green Party won the ensuing contest,[3] providing the party representation after being wiped out at the last election. Three other Conservative councillors resigned the whip and became independents.[4]

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[5] by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Although initial counts suggested the Conservatives were on 22 seats, and 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.[6][7]

  1. ^ Oxfordshire County Council (2021). "County Council Election - May 2021 | Oxfordshire County Council". Oxfordshire County Council. Archived from the original on 7 April 2021. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  2. ^ "Councillor suspended by party for calling colleague 'a cripple'". Oxford Mail. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
  3. ^ "Election results for Wallingford, 28 November 2019". mycouncil.oxfordshire.gov.uk. Oxfordshire County Council. 28 November 2019. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
  4. ^ "Your Councillors". mycouncil.oxfordshire.gov.uk. Oxfordshire County Council. 23 March 2021. Retrieved 23 March 2021.
  5. ^ "Postponement of May 2020 elections". GOV.UK. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
  6. ^ "Banbury councillor reappointed after Oxfordshire election result mix-up". BBC News. 11 August 2021. Retrieved 12 August 2021.
  7. ^ Edwards, Roseanne (11 August 2021). "High Court confirms outcome of Banbury Ruscote seat, subject of an 'administrative error'". Banbury Guardian. Retrieved 12 August 2021.