What happened at the last county elections ahead of next month’s vote?
The Conservative leader of the council lost his seat, while the council was left in no overall control.
The Conservative and Liberal Democrat groups both obtained 21 seats, which is 11 seats shy of the amount needed for a majority.
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The Labour Party won 16 seats, the Green Party won three seats, and the Henley Residents Group won one seat, while one seat went to an independent candidate, Les Sibley.
After more than a week of negotiations, the Liberal Democrat, Green and Labour group formed an alliance, named the Oxfordshire Fair Deal Alliance, which became the county’s new administration.
Liz Leffman of the Liberal Democrats became the new leader of the county council.
Liz Leffman (Image: Contributed) In a joint statement, Liz Leffman, Green leader Pete Sudbury and Labour leader Liz Brighouse said: “We are pleased to have reached agreement to work together at this crucial and challenging moment for our county and the region.
“We have put party differences aside to develop a shared vision that is underpinned by the principles shared across our manifestos, with climate change and the environment at their heart.”
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This was the first time the Conservative group had not been part of the administration, either as a majority administration or in a coalition, since 1973.
Former council leader Ian Hudspeth had been leader of the council since 2012 and county councillor for Woodstock since 2005 before losing his seat.
Reacting to the result at the time, he said: “It is very disappointing obviously, but that is democracy for you and that is what the ballot box has said.”
The political makeup of the council continued to change after the May elections.
The Labour group left the alliance in September 2023 after an Ofsted report found Oxfordshire was failing children with disabilities and special educational needs (SEND).
The Green group also announced it would no longer form a joint group with Lib Dems from February onwards, but that they would continue in an alliance with the party.
A number of individual councillors also changed their political affiliations, including councillor Hannah Banfield, who left Labour to sit as independent in November 2022, councillor Damian Haywood, who left Labour in September 2023 to sit as an independent, and councillor Sally Povolotsky, who left the Lib Dems in December 2023 to sit as an independent.
Felix Bloomfield and Kevin Bulmer, who were both elected as Conservative councillors, joined Reform UK in March 2025.
There were two byelections in Rose Hill & Littlemore in March 2023 and Sutton Courtenay & Marcham in June 2024.
Labour held its seat in Rose Hill & Littlemore, electing councillor Trish Elphinstone, while Sutton Courtenay & Marcham remained Lib Dem, electing Peter Stevens.
Currently, the Lib Dems have 20 seats, Conservative-Independent Alliance have 19, Labour has 14, the Greens have three, the Henley Residents have one and six seats are occupied by independents.
The 2025 local elections will take place on May 1, and the deadline for registering to vote is April 11.
