The Labour Party has admitted that problems existed from 'day one' of the coalition running Oxfordshire County Council and claim this week’s fallout was 'the straw that broke the camel’s back.'

The Fair Deal Alliance of Liberal Democrats, Labour, and Green parties, which had run the council since 2021, was shattered on Sunday afternoon when Labour pulled out of the coalition.

Following the turmoil, senior Labour figures have claimed there were difficulties from the very start and that a 'long sequence of events' had shaken the party’s faith in its coalition partners.

Council leader Liz Leffman dismissed Labour's claims as “self-justifying nonsense” and said the party “could have broken the agreement at any stage” if it was uncomfortable with the alliance.

In an email to Labour members on Tuesday, Cllr Michael O'Connor, the secretary of the Oxfordshire County Labour Group, explained the reasons for the party's dramatic departure.

He said: “We didn’t leave in a fit of anger. We left at the end of a long sequence of events that have shaken our faith in our alliance partners…

“Over the last two years, our efforts to transform services and improve outcomes for residents have been persistently watered down by the Liberal Democrats and the Green party.

“From day one, the Liberal Democrats have been plagued by infighting. Cllr Leffman has been repeatedly challenged from within her own party, resulting in weak and indecisive leadership.

“A lack of any political agenda means that council time has been prioritised for political posturing.”

Cllr O’Connor said private cabinet meetings had been spent 'discussing the planting of individual trees in Horspath rather than the crisis facing social care' and criticised the 'cabinet time and council resources' spent on the sale of land in Kidlington to Oxford United for its new stadium.

He added: “It has become clear that the Liberal Democrat and Green alliance is fundamentally opposed to progressive change in this county and the commitments Labour councillors were elected on in 2021.

“More than that, it has become clear to us that they are not competent to run a council.”

The tensions in the coalition came to a head earlier this month when Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission published a damning report into the county’s troubled special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) services.

Following the report, council leader Liz Leffman told Labour Group leader, Cllr Liz Brighouse, to quit as cabinet member for youth services.

This prompted the Labour group to leave the coalition.

Cllr Brighouse, who also stepped down as deputy leader of the council, told the Oxford Times the last few weeks had been “really painful” and claimed she had been made a “scapegoat.”

She said: “I have tried very hard to make sure our SEND children are getting the best they can get, and I have had that thrown in my face.

“If there is a scapegoat, it is Liz Leffman, as she is the leader of everything.

“The issues have been going on for some time on a range of different issues. In order for this alliance to work, you need to work together and trust each other and have integrity. You don’t drop each other in it…

“The coalition has been extremely difficult. At the very beginning it was difficult.

“I kept thinking we could work through it because it’s important… but then this happens, and you feel that all that time was wasted. I just don’t know what they were playing at.”

Following Cllr Brighouse’s departure, Cllr Leffman has stepped in temporarily to run SEND services at the council, while Cllr Pete Sudbury has been appointed the new deputy leader.

Cllr Leffman said: “The Labour group was in discussion with the Lib Dem/Green group for over a week following the publication of the Ofsted report into our SEND services, in an attempt to maintain the alliance.

“In the end, Cllr Brighouse refused to relinquish the children’s services portfolio, and her group backed her rather than listen to the voices of the many parents who called for her resignation.

“I very much regret that they have chosen to put politics before the needs of our most vulnerable residents.”

Cllr Eddie Reeves, leader of the Conservative group on the council, said it 'stretches credulity' that problems had existed from the start of the coalition.

He added: "Labour and Liberal Democrats have been running Oxfordshire County Council for two and a half years. They continue to run West Oxfordshire District Council together.

“It stretches credulity that there have been problems in county hall from the start.

“The Conservatives won 37 per cent of the popular vote in 2021, far higher than the Lib Dems at 26 per cent. Sadly, Labour chose to prop them up, despite our offer to work with them to form a credible, stable administration together, setting party politics aside.

“We knew of the Lib Dems' extreme policies back then. Their wokery and virtue-signalling do nothing for the vulnerable. It is a great shame that Labour councillors now realise the error of their ways.

"We will continue to put residents - and particularly SEND parents - first."