Oxfordshire Tories were in jubilant mood today after an encouraging night in the local elections.

The Conservatives clawed back seats in four of the county's five district councils, mirroring a night of Tory gains nationwide.

The party gained more than 1,000 seats on councils across the country to ease the pressure on William Hague's leadership.

In Cherwell, the Conservatives became the largest party after stealing seats from Labour and the Liberal Democrats. In South Oxfordshire, an 11-seat Liberal Democrat majority was wiped-out by Tory gains.

"I am utterly delighted and more than a little surprised," said South Oxfordshire Tory leader Ann Ducker.

In Oxford, the Green Party were celebrating gaining three more seats - taking their number of councillors to seven. The Labour majority was slashed from 15 to five, with the Liberal Democrats also gaining two seats. John Tanner, Labour leader of the city council, had mixed feelings about the result. "The people of Oxford have again supported Labour to continue running the city council.

"I am pleased that Labour will continue running the city, but I am disappointed that we have lost five seats."

Story date: Friday 07 May

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.