Oxfordshire County Council leader Ian Hudspeth loses district seat
- Published
Ian Hudspeth lost his seat by 65 votes
The new leader of Oxfordshire County Council, Ian Hudspeth, has lost his West Oxfordshire District Council seat of Woodstock.
Mr Hudspeth, who is to succeed current county council leader Keith Mitchell, was beaten by 65 votes by Liberal Democrat Elizabeth Poskitt.
The Tories held West Oxfordshire and Cherwell with substantial majorities.
However Labour won three seats in Prime Minister David Cameron's Witney constituency.
They took seats in Witney Central, Witney East and Chipping Norton.
Labour held Oxford City securing three extra seats, with the Lib Dems losing three and Greens holding five.
Mr Hudspeth said he was disappointed and blamed Labour and the Green Party for not standing in the ward.
He said: "In 2004, 207 people voted Labour, so why weren't they able to vote Labour? That's a question that's got to be asked."
The leader of West Oxfordshire District Council Barry Norton said: "We have lost tonight because of a collation between the opposition parties who got together and [have] not fought against each other in seats where they thought they could target us and win.
Council Leader Bob Price said the result was an endorsement of the parties that were in opposition nationally
"That disenfranchises voters from the opposition parties where they are not able to vote for their own candidates."
Both the other parties deny the allegation of collusion.
Labour increased its number of members in West Oxfordshire to four councillors.
The Liberal Democrats also have four, leaving the other 41 seats on the council in Tory hands.
On Cherwell District Council, the Conservatives lost two councillors leaving them with 41 members, Labour gained two leaving them with six and the Lib Dems held their three.
• All the latest election results are available at <link> <caption>bbc.co.uk/vote2012 </caption> <url href="http://bbc.co.uk/vote2012" platform="highweb"/> </link>
- Published26 April 2012