Since taking majority control of Oxford Council in 2010 Oxford Labour has:

Reversed the Lib Dem policy of closing children's play areas and began a programme of refurbishment with the 50th now open in Bury Knowle Park.

Taken tough action to enforce better standards in privately rented homes with the introduction of the HMO licensing scheme.

Made Oxford a cleaner and greener city, leading to the Council receiving a national award for their efforts to reduce carbon emissions.

Built the first council housing in Oxford for a generation.

Your Labour Council has taken steps to reduce the effects of the savage national cuts on local people. Thanks to Labour’s good financial management and the efforts of staff, the Council will be able to direct some extra spending to where it is needed in our City.

Oxford Labour’s priorities for the future include:

Improving educational attainment in under-resourced schools and communities: we will have the biggest educational support programme of any District Council in the country

Projects to help reduce the isolation of elderly people, working with Age UK.

Increasing our efforts to reduce carbon emissions from the City.

Providing youth services and activities to complement the County Council’s dedicated but sadly now less numerous youth workers.

More resources to help those unable to access welfare advice due to legal aid cuts.

Targeted free swimming lessons for children from deprived backgrounds to encourage them to become more active.

Between 1997 - 2010 the last Labour government:

Introduced the national minimum wage and greatly increasing the opportunities available to young people of all backgrounds, by doubling the level of spending on secondary education and increasing the number of University places.

Introduced the Child Tax Credit for low income families, the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) to help young people continue in education up to 18, and SureStart centres to help with the health and development of the youngest children. By comparison, the current government has cut the funding to SureStart centres, has scrapped the EMA, and has greatly reduced the number of families who can claim child benefit.

Saved the NHS, after almost two decades of Tory neglect. Doubling healthcare spending in real terms, recruited 85,000 more nurses and 32,000 more doctors and introducing maximum waiting Labour ensured that all were entitled to the highest possible standard of care across the country. The coalition government meanwhile plans to cut the NHS budget by £20bn, at the same time as threatening the health service with another unnecessary overhaul.

Fought for a progressive equalities agenda, on race, gender, disability, age, religion, and sexual orientation. Culminating in the Equalities Act which comprehensively banned discrimination on all of these grounds, and also led to the establishment of same sex civil partnerships. In the same period the Conservatives opposed same-sex adoption, and split over same sex civil partnership.

Today the Labour party continues to build on this legacy with its agenda of ethical capitalism, which demands fair prices from energy companies and shareholder control of executive bonuses. At the same time it continues to fight off the coalition’s attacks on our public services and on the living standards of Britain’s poorest, which have so far only increased our debt.