Greens eye up Oxford's spires

Greens are hoping to improve their standing in Oxford, where they already have a presence

Thursday, 06, Apr 2006 12:00

Eco-friendly, urban and full of bicycles – the city of Oxford might just be David Cameron's perfect target seat for this May's local elections.

But the Conservatives have managed to win just one seat on the city council in the last ten years, and the real battle next month is likely to be between Labour, the Liberal Democrats, and of course, the Greens.

Oxford is one of the Green party's strongholds – they hold six council seats, which may be less than Labour's 21 and the Lib Dems' 17, but a few years ago they managed to oust the Labour leader and now have high hopes for May 4th.

Given the history of social and environmental movements in Oxford, it is unsurprising that the Greens have done so well here, and council group leader Craig Simmons admits many voters "do feel close to us ideologically".

However, the 47-year-old believes local politics is more about issues on the ground, such as affordable housing and recycling schemes, and how councillors perform, rather than any idea about what the Greens stand for as a national party.

"The background of course gave us a foothold, but once we started to get elected, people realised we were good local councillors – we generated our own momentum," he told politics.co.uk.

"Young professionals and students do tend to vote on more national issues, but our core voters come from people concerned by local issues."

There is an argument that having such a strong Green party makes local politics a bit more exciting, giving people a chance to back policies that are not represented at a national level by the three main parties at Westminster.

However, Cllr Simmons insists the key to local democracy is engaging with the voters and taking decisions based on their experiences – a position the leader of the council, Labour's Alex Hollingsworth, supports.

"It isn't that existence of small parties that makes politics in Oxford vibrant – the two large parties are both fully active and engaged on the doorstep," the 37-year-old said.

Cllr Hollingsworth also questions whether the history of environmentalism in Oxford necessarily benefits the Greens – all councillors in the city, regardless of their party, are drawn out of that same history, he notes, and should reflect the community.

"The electorate to whom we are all speaking to are perhaps more aware of some issues – but parties draw their activists from that same background. It is an inevitable consequence of any community whose opinions skew from the normal," he argued.

So do local elections bear any resemblance to national politics, or are they purely based on voters' experiences of their local environment?

The Conservatives may have held just one seat in the last ten years in Oxford city – and then only for two years – but they control the county council, with the Greens holding just four seats. Then again, none of the Tory seats are in Oxford itself.

At a parliamentary level, the picture is also mixed - Lib Dem Evan Harris is the MP for Oxford West and Abingdon, but the Tories came in second place in the last two general elections, with the Greens struggling to get more than four per cent of the vote.

Meanwhile, in Oxford East, where Labour's Andrew Smith is the MP, the Lib Dems have been in second place since 2001 but the Conservatives have each time polled at least four times as many votes as the Greens.

The Greens' success in Oxford may therefore be less to do with their appeal to eco-friendly voters, and more to do with an ability, like their Lib Dem and Labour council colleagues, to simply get the job done. Which is probably how it should be.