Labour is in charge again at Oxford Town Hall after the Liberal Democrat and Green vote collapsed in Thursday's local elections.

Labour won 29 seats out of a total of 48, with the Liberal Democrats winning 15 seats, and the Greens only three. This was the first time in Oxford since 1979 that all seats have been contested on the same day.

The city bucked national trends, with Conservatives gaining control of 15 new councils and losing just six across the country, compared to Labour's gain of four and loss of 13.

Tories made significant gains in West Oxfordshire and Cherwell district councils to further strengthen their control.

Campaigners for an elected mayor in Oxford failed to secure enough votes in a referendum to get rid of the current system of running the council.

There were cheers when Labour won its 25th seat. This meant the Liberal Democrat-Green alliance, which took over the council in May, 2000, could no longer retain control.

As the number of Labour seats increased, the town hall was taken over by large numbers of supporters, and when victory was assured, they sang The Red Flag.

Leader of the council's Labour group, Alex Hollingsworth, said: "This was a resounding victory for Labour, and we have done even better than we expected.

"We have won seats in wards like St Clement's and Quarry and Risinghurst, where we were not expecting so much support.

"We want to get our backbench councillors properly involved in the running of this council, unlike the Liberal Democrats, who created too much of a gap between those on the executive and those who are not."

Labour ran the city council for almost 20 years until May, 2000, when they lost control under John Tanner, who is back on the council after being elected in Littlemore.

Andrew Smith, Labour MP for Oxford East, who is Chief Secretary to the Treasury, welcomed the victory and said it was "the best local election results Labour had had in Oxford with a Labour Government in power".

Labour councillor Colin Cook, who together with fellow Labour councillor Susanna Pressel gained convincing majorities to be re-elected in Jericho and Osney, said there would be room for "no more than two" opposition councillors in the new executive board.

The Lib Dem-Green administration had allowed the Labour group four seats on the executive.

The only Labour casualty was Oxford's Lord Mayor Peter Moss, who fought back tears when he lost his seat in St Mary's after 13 years on the council.

Former leader of the council, Corinna Redman, said she was disappointed that the Liberal Democrat alliance had lost power.

She added: "I am very proud of what we have achieved for Oxford and I would like to thank the Greens for their loyal support.

"We have brought the finances under control and coped with all the challenges of modernisation.

"We have changed the face of the city council and Labour are very lucky to inherit our legacy."

Green councillor Mike Woodin kept his seat in Carfax ward, but his wife Deborah Glass lost her seat in Hinksey Park ward.

Cllr Woodin is now one of only three Green councillors. The others are Craig Simmons in St Mary's ward and Claire Palmer in St Clement's ward.

Stuart Craft won the only seat for the Independent Working Class Association in the Northfield Brook ward.

Cllr Simmons, who is also a county councillor, said: "There was a lot of dirty campaigning and I think that had a detrimental effect on the Green vote.

"The police are investigating the publication of a fake election leaflet, which contained a hoax version of Green policies."

Oxfordshire Conservative Group fielded 35 candidates but failed to win a single seat.

The precise turnout for last night's election hasn't been calculated but it is thought that it will match the one in May 2000, which was 31.1 per cent of an electorate of more than 100,000.