Labour plans to challenge Oxfordshire May election result for Banbury Ruscote in the courts oxfordmail.co.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from oxfordmail.co.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Updated
Tuesday, 11th May 2021, 8:20 pm
People at the official count for the elections held last week, which was held at the Spiceball Leisure Centre in Banbury (Image from Cherwell District Council Twitter account)
Mark Cherry, the Labour Party candidate for the Banbury Ruscote Division of Oxfordshire County Council, lost his seat on the council in the election last week after election officials declared the Conservative candidate, Jayne Strangwood, the winner.
Mr Cherry plans to submit an official challenge to the declared winner of the election with the High Court with backing of his political party, the Banbury & Bicester Constituency Labour Party.
A LABOUR Party candidate for an Oxfordshire County Council ward is making a legal challenge against a result which saw them lose their seat. Mark Cherry, the candidate for the Banbury Ruscote division in the election held on Thursday with the backing of the Labour Party, is to submit an election petition to the High Court to challenge the declaration of the result of the Banbury Ruscote division made at the election count on Sunday. Mr Cherry and his Labour Party advisers consider they have reasonable grounds to believe that an administrative error was made in the declaration of the election result.
The council has been left with no overall majority control as a result of the election. The Conservative group remains the largest on the council, but it now has only 22 seats, far short of the all out majority of 32 needed to claim power. Following them were the Liberal Democrats with 21 seats, the Labour Party with 15, the Greens with three and the Henley Residents Group with one. One seat went to independent candidate, Les Sibley, of Bicester West. It remains to be seen what kind of governing group will now be formed. Ian Hudspeth, the leader of the council and councillor for Woodstock, was among the Tory councillors who lost their seats.