Political leaders in Oxford were meeting today to try to thrash out a deal to run the city after Thursday's election defeat for Labour.

The Labour group, which had been in control of the city council after 20 years, suffered heavy defeats and lost its leader, John Tanner, too.

This means the city council is now hung after the Lib Dems gained five seats, giving each party 21 councillors.

The Greens gained one to take them to eight, and now hold the balance of power, while the Conservatives won their first seat in four years.

Liberal Democrats were meeting Green and Labour councillors this morning to discuss what happens now.

Lib Dem leader Corinna Redman said: "We are meeting the Greens to talk about possible co-operation.

"We are not talking coalition, but we both need to put our cards on the table."

Labour councillors will discuss their next step at their annual meeting tonight before any meetings with the other groups take place.

The group's deputy leader Maureen Christian said no meetings were planned with other political groups on the council pending Labour's AGM tonight.

The Greens, who now have more councillors in Oxford than on any local authority in the country, were unavailable for comment yesterday.