The Conservative party leader on Cherwell District Council said he is anticipating Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Greens to work together to form a coalition.

His comments come after his party lost control of the council on Friday (May 5).

The Tories won just three seats in the latest round of district council elections held last week.

16 seats or one third of the council were up for grabs.

READ MORE: Tory leader says voters 'may regret decision' as party loses council control

The Liberal Democrats and Labour both won five seats each, the Green party claimed two and one went to an independent candidate.

The council swung from a Conservative majority to no overall control.

This means no party has enough seats to take over the running of the council.

Barry Wood said: “I anticipate that the Liberals, Greens and Labour, much as they have done in the other councils in Oxfordshire, will work together.

“At least I am currently working on that assumption.

“They will be in negotiation, and it will take them a few days to sort out what is happening.”

But neither the Greens, Labour nor the Liberal Democrats have so far confirmed any plans for a coalition between the parties.

Green party councillor, Ian Middleton said: “We are still in negotiation but as far as I am aware the Oxfordshire Progressive group which consists of the Lib Dems, the Greens and the Independents will stick together which would give us a total of 14 seats on the council.”

Oxford Mail: Ian Middleton was re-elected to the Kidlington East ward on Friday

He suggested that the Progressive group would then go into talks with the Labour party to form an overall majority.

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Leader of the Labour group, Sean Woodcock, said: “We’ve not made any decisions or had any discussions on that. 

“The priority up to Friday was winning as many seats as we could.

“Now there’s a position where no one party can run it on their own.

“Now the Coronation weekend is over, we'll see what our options are and then make a public announcement in due course.”

Deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats, David Hingley was approached for comment, but he has so far not responded.

On Friday (May 4) after the election results were declared, Mr Hingley said: “I think the results at Cherwell have gone really well today for the Liberal Democrats.

“It has been a terrible day for the Conservatives, they are down by quite a number of councillors.

“We are now looking forward to what comes next but a fantastic day for the liberal democrats both here and across the region.

“All the new councillors will be looking to meet as soon as possible to discuss what we think we might like to do.

Oxford Mail:

“But we haven’t made any decisions yet so I can’t tell you any more at the moment.”

Current leader of Cherwell District Council, Mr Wood has raised concerns about the viability of a coalition between Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Greens.

He added: “I think those parties are going to have some trouble, over the next few months as no party has a majority in the council.

“My concern as the opposition is to give a constructive opinion and to coach them into making the right decisions.”