2023 Cherwell District Council election

2023 Cherwell District Council election

← 2022 4 May 2023 (2023-05-04) 2024 →
16 out of 48 seats to Cherwell District Council 25 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Leader Barry Wood Sean Woodcock David Hingley Party Conservative Labour Liberal Democrats Last election 25 seats, 38.4% 10 seats, 24.8% 7 seats, 26.4% Seats before 25 9 7 Seats won 3 5 5 Seats after 20 12 10 Seat change 5 3 3 Popular vote 12,735 9,641 9,461 Percentage 34.0% 25.7% 25.2% Swing 4.8% 0.9% 1.2%   Fourth party Fifth party   Leader Ian Middleton Party Green Independent Last election 2 seats, 7.7% 4 seats, 2.6% Seats before 2 5 Seats won 2 1 Seats after 3 3 Seat change 1 2 Popular vote 4,160 1,486 Percentage 11.1% 4.0% Swing 3.4% 1.4%
The winner of each ward in the 2023 Cherwell District Council Election
Leader before election Barry Wood Conservative Leader after election Barry Wood Conservative No overall control

The 2023 Cherwell District Council election took place on 4 May 2023 to elect members of Cherwell District Council in Oxfordshire, England.^[1] This was on the same day as other local elections in England.

The Conservatives lost control of the council to no overall control.^[2] Attempts to form a coalition of the other parties failed to produce an alternative administration. The Conservative leader of the council, Barry Wood, was removed from office at the council's annual meeting on 17 May 2023, but as the council could not agree on a replacement leader the meeting was then adjourned until 23 May 2023. No alternative leader who could command a majority had emerged by then either, and so Barry Wood was reinstated as leader, in charge of a Conservative minority administration.^[3]

Green Party leader Ian Middleton said this was because the Labour Party National Executive Committee had told the local Labour Party that they could not have any Green or Independent councillors in roles in the Executive.^[4]