What's at stake for Oxfordshire in the general election

The county is currently split into six parliamentary constituencies but this is soon to become seven with the addition of the new Bicester & Woodstock voting area.

All MPs outside Oxford in Oxfordshire are currently Conservative with the two MPs for the city being Labour and Liberal Democrat.

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Several Conservative councillors lost their seat in May local elections in the county and relatively low polling for the party nationally would suggest a similar trend with MPs across the country is likely.

Here is a breakdown of what is at stake in each constituency in light of previous voting patterns and recent political changes.

Banbury

The seat for Banbury is currently held by the Conservative MP Victoria Prentis who won 54.3 per cent of the vote in the 2019 general election with the Labour candidate coming in second at 27.6 per cent.

Victoria Prentis. (Image: Other.)

Ms Prentis's constituency has had a long-standing tradition of voting Conservative since the First World War and loss of the seat would indeed be a shock.

The Banbury seat was the was the 16th largest constituency in the United Kingdom at the time of the 2015 general election and incudes the market towns of Banbury and Bicester.

Boundary changes will see Bicester - formerly in the constituency - incorporated into the new Bicester and Woodstock constituency.

This has been somewhat offset by incorporation of parts of Witney such as Chipping Norton and Charlbury into the existing Banbury voter area.

Candidates are Victoria Prentis, Conservative; Arron Baker, Green; Sean Woodcock, Labour; Liz Adams, Liberal Democrats; Declan Soper, Social Democratic Party. 

Bicester & Woodstock

New candidates hoping to win a seat are the Conservatives' Rupert Harrison, Labour's Veronica Oakeshott, Lib Dems' Calum Miller, Greens' Ian Middleton and Reform UK's Augustine Obodo.

Bicester. (Image: Ed Nix.)

Bicester is a historical market town known also for Bicester Village, a designer outlet shopping centre on the outskirts of Bicester. 

One key issue has been development of transport links in the town with Bicester earmarked as a new area to be incorporated into a new East West Rail project linking Oxford and Cambridge.

Given the historic Conservative majority in the Banbury constituency it seems a win for Mr Harrison is possible there.

But all candidates have been out campaigning for the seat with candidate Veronica Oakeshott saying "politically neutral" polling indicated a win for Labour in the area while the Lib Dem candidate having previously claimed the seat was not a target for Labour.

Didcot & Wantage

The Wantage seat is currently held by Conservative David Johnston and the constituency is set to renamed Didcot & Wantage for the upcoming general election.

Didcot. (Image: David Fleming)

The area covers the south-western part of Oxfordshire and includes the three market towns of Faringdon, Wallingford and Wantage.

It has been held by Conservative candidates since 1924 and last year Mr Johnston won 50.7 percent of the vote with the second place Liberal Democrat candidate gaining 31.9.

The candidates contesting the seat are Conservative, David Johnston; Labour, Mocky Khan; Liberal Democrats, Olly Glover; Green, Sam Casey-Rerhaye; Reform UK, Peter Shields; SDP, Kym Pomlett.

Henley and Thame

The Henley seat has been held by Conservative MP John Howell since 2008 but Mr Howell announced last year he would be retiring.

Henley. (Image: Archant)

The constituency covers most of the local government district of South Oxfordshire, excluding Wallingford, Didcot and surrounding areas in the west.

Only minor boundary changes will occur at the constituency but it is to be re-named Henley and Thame come the general election.

The new Conservative candidate is Caroline Newton and given seat is a long-standing Conservative strong-hold, with the 2015 general election result making it the twelfth safest of the Conservative Party's 331 seats, it would be a surprise for the Conservatives to lose it.

The seat was previously held by Boris Johnson, who resigned it on being elected mayor of London, which triggered the by-election that saw Mr Howell come to power.

The candidates are Conservatives, Caroline Newton; Green, Jo Robb; Labour, Alexandra Aldridge-Gibbons; Liberal Democrats, Freddie van Mierlo.

Oxford East

Anneliese Dodds MP currently holds the Oxford East seat for the Labour party after she won 57 per cent of the vote in 2019.

Anneliese Dodds. (Image: Newsquest)

The seat includes Cowley and other district areas such as Blackbird Leys.

Independent candidates have previously only secured a small percentage of the vote in the constituency but changes to the political map of Oxford in May local elections after disillusion with traffic policies and the party's stance on Gaza has led some independent candidates to think they may be in with a chance of seriously contesting the position.

David Henwood, a councillor for the Independent Oxford Alliance Party, put his hat in the ring as an Independent candidate this week after recent electoral wins for the IOA in east Oxford wards.

The candidates for the ward are Green, Sushila Dhall; Labour, Anneliese Dodds; Liberal Democrats, Theo Jupp; Reform UK, Lawrence Haar; SDP, Benjamin Adams; Independent, Amir Steve Ali; Independent, David Henwood.

Oxford West and Abingdon

Liberal Democrat Layla Moran holds the Oxford West and Abingdon constituency which she won off the Conservatives in 2015.

Layla Moran. (Image: Jon Lewis.)

Given the polling of the party nationally it seems Ms Moran may be set to retain her seat.

The constituency includes the town of Abingdon, the village of Kidlington, and the western and northern parts of the city of Oxford, and some of the colleges of the University of Oxford.

At the end of 2010, unemployment was the fifth lowest of the 84 South East constituencies, at 1.2 per cent compared to a mean of 2.45 per cent.

The candidates are Conservatives, Vinay Raniga; Labour, Stephen Webb; Liberal Democrats, Layla Moran; Green, Cheryl Briggs; Reform UK, James Gunn.

Witney

Robert Courts is the current Conservative MP for Witney and he is hoping to retain the west Oxfordshire seat which has historically been held by Conservatives.

Witney High Street. (Image: Ed Nix)

The seat was previously held by David Cameron before his resignation in 2016 which triggered a by-election.

Mr Courts won 55.2 per cent of votes in the 2019 general election with the Liberal Democrats coming in at second with 30.5 per cent.

Candidates for the constituency are Conservative, Robert Courts; Green, Andrew Prosser; Labour, Georgia Meadows; Liberal Democrats, Charlie Maynard; Reform UK, Richard Langridge; Independent, Barry Ingleton.

The deadline to register to vote in the general election is typically 12 working days before the election, which will be June 18. The deadline to register for a postal vote is likely to be June 19.

Further candidates may be announced before the deadline on June 7.