Oxford; too bloody interesting
Matthew Selwood
Those of us involved in
Oxford's local political scene seem cursed to 'live in interesting times'.
With an extremely strong Green Party presence, the only IWCA councillors in
the country, and a tradition of 'real Labour' politics, Oxford is certainly a
fascinating place to be if you're of the left.
Unfortunately, and perhaps predictably, the General Election of 2005 didn't
represent that strong left-wing tradition - Oxford West and Abingdon saw the
comfortable re-election of Dr Evan Harris MP, who as a supporter of Simon
Hughes, is part of what passes as the Lib Dem left - but rarely shows any
tendencies towards anything but middle-of-the road liberalism. Oxford East, on
the other hand, was more interesting...former Cabinet Minister and prominent
Brownite Andrew Smith MP was elected with a majority of less than 1000, after
a stronger than expected challenge from the Lib Dems in this urban seat with
its high proportion of students and ethnic minorities. This meant a squeeze on
the Green and IWCA candidates, however, both of whom lost their deposits.
The County Council elections also saw mixed results - with the Green Party
achieving its higher ever vote across Oxford city (over 22%) and electing five
County Councillors - but with the Conservatives across the rest of Oxfordshire
almost sweeping the board, and establishing the first majority administration
for many years on the County. Predictably, this has led to an extreme
anti-ecological bias on the County Council, and appalling cuts in social
services and mental health provision. The Leader of the County Council Green
Group, Larry Sanders (brother of Socialist US Congressman, Bernie Sanders) has
the knowledge and passion to effectively oppose these cuts...but without the
leverage of the 'balance of power', the going is tough.
In contrast, the City Council has generally leant to the left of centre in the
past two years - with a minority Labour administration and a seven-strong
Green Group holding the 'balance of power' between Labour and the Lib Dems.
With the IWCA drawing much of the flak from both mainstream party groups, the
Greens have worked with the more radical Labour councillors on redirecting
money through the budget process to social inclusion, climate change
mitigation, and greater community participation. While the Labour leadership
in the city continues to follow Andrew Smith MP's Brownite/New Labour lead, a
number of younger Labour councillors remain interested in social justice and
community empowerment issues - a forthcoming joint Labour + Green motion to
Council supporting the Local Government Pension Scheme strike is one example
of constructive joint working that has, generally, been effective.
Unfortunately, the 'firefighting' that tends to go on in a No Overall Control
council which has been rated as 'weak' has precluded any sort of cohesive
strategy of municipal socialism - instead, those of us on the left have fought
on the issues as they have presented themselves...often to great success, but
perhaps not as strategically as we would have liked.
In contrast, the local Liberal Democrats are split down the middle - with
their City Council Leader coming from largely rightist North Oxford, and their
Deputy Leader from the more socially progressive East Oxford. There has been
scarcely an important issue where the Lib Dems haven't split over the last two
years - the motion to support the impeachment of Blair for war crimes, for
example, led to a quarter of them absenting themselves, a quarter actively
abstaining, a quarter voting for, and a quarter voting against! One of the few
issues on which they have proved cohesive, unfortunately, is the move to
outsource the council tax collection function to a private provider...
In case my lack of enthusiasm for the Lib Dems suggests that Labour are a
progressive party, it should be pointed out that the Labour administration
proposed the outsourcing motion for which the Lib Dems so enthusiastically
voted. Only a few weeks later, the Labour Leader of the Council crossed an
official picket line on March 28th - and, at the risk of appearing partisan,
it should be pointed out that Green Group councillors, in contrast, were stood
on the picket line supporting the striking workers.
The scene is set, then, for an intriguing contest on May 4th. Labour,
defending 14 out of their 21 seats, are on the back-foot...while the Lib Dems
are hopeful that they will gain enough seats to at least have a shot at
forming a minority administration. The IWCA are standing only four candidates
and are targetting hard - their General Election candidate, Maurice Leen,
putting up a strong challenge in the Leys. The Greens are standing a 'full
slate' - defending 4 seats which we hope to hold, and aiming for at least
three gains - including the second seat in my ward and a breakthrough in
Liberal Democrat dominated North Oxford. And not to forget RESPECT, who are
standing one candidate in Labour dominated Cowley - an area where the Greens
traditionally come third, but have never come close to winning.
As for what will happen afterwards....its all up for grabs. A number of 'big
issues' seperate the three major parties in the city, which would seem to
preclude any formal coalition - and yet none of them are likely to gain an
absolute majority. In my opinion, the Lib Dems are incompetent, and will be
incapable of running a whelkstall - and yet Labour's ranks are likely to be
depleted, with five of their longest serving and experienced councillors
retiring this year. What exactly will happen, and how much purchase a
progressive/socialist agenda will have after May 4th, is anyone's guess....
April 2006
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