LTNs: Will Labour maintain its long-lasting reign in City Council?

For over a decade now, the Labour party and its candidates have had a strong political majority within Oxford City Council (OCC). 

Since 2012, Labour’s popularity has increased by over 20%, with the party receiving over 25,000 total votes in 2021, a number only ever experienced by their party.

Credit: Author

Recently, closer attention has been paid to traffic-related issues within the city. This has appeared to create growing concerns around newly implemented traffic filters and road changes, causing larger gaps between the different sides of the debate. 

According to ex-Councillor John Tanner, the topic of traffic filters is unexpected to have any impacts on Labour’s reputation and popularity: “Most people in Oxford either support or don’t mind about the LTNs and the Botley Road is only closed to make much-needed rail improvements. These issues are unlikely to be deciding factors in the 2024 City elections”.

To better understand the data and what this Labour majority has, and still means, for the city of Oxford, we interviewed Alex Hollingsworth, Labour Councillor for Carfax, Tom Crook, History Professor at Oxford Brookes University and Ex-Councillor John Tanner. We asked them about their thoughts on Labour’s work, its future, and the future of OCC.