Election looms as Lib Dem quits

5:59am Thursday 8th May 2008

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ELECTIONS are like buses. You wait two years for one to come along - and then two appear in a short space of time.

And so it is at Oxford City Council after Richard Huzzey, the Liberal Democrat city councillor for Holywell, decided to quit his post - just days after the city went to the polls.

Mr Huzzey, 25, is off to America, to take up a "dream" two-year research fellowship at Yale University, in Connecticut, specialising in British history.

For the past two years he has been completing a doctorate in history at St Catherine's College.

Timing-wise, it could not have been worse for his party, which now has to fight an unwanted by-election after an embarrassing election night, when they relinquished power of the Town Hall.

Mr Huzzey said: "I got back from the count in the early hours of Friday and there was an answerphone message on my mobile.

"It's typical. I just couldn't believe it. This is a dream job and I just couldn't turn it down.

"Obviously, when I spoke to them, I said I wanted 48 hours to think about it, but I've seen Martin John (Oxford's chief electoral officer) and the by-election will be held in five weeks' time.

"This a great opportunity for me personally, but I will be very sad to go."

Although Mr Huzzey's seat was not contested last Thursday, the result in the other Holywell seat - where the Lib Dems won their only seat of the night - meant the group held both.

There will now be a by-election on Thursday, June 12.

That date is crucial because a lot of students - who make up a large percentage of Holywell's electorate - will still be eligible to vote.

Mr Huzzey was elected in May 2006 and was part of a new intake of Liberal Democrat councillors that seized control of the Town Hall.

However, his resignation comes on the back of poll results that culminated with leader John Goddard quitting his post at the weekend.

Executive board member Caroline van Zyl was defeated in Marston, while voters were unimpressed by Tony Brett's attempt to get re-elected to the city council in Cowley Marsh. He lost by 325 votes to Lib Dem-turned-Labour councillor Saj Malik.

However, there was at least a glimmer of hope for the group in Holywell, when Nathan Pyle was elected to the seat vacated by Green city councillor Matt Sellwood's departure.

The city council will now be run for at least two years by Labour, the largest group at the Town Hall with 23 councillors - just shy of an overall majority.

Bob Price will be formally approved as city council leader at an annual council meeting later this month.

Labour city councillor Susanna Pressel is set to be sworn in as Lord Mayor at the same meeting.

The current political make-up of Oxford City Council is: Labour, 23 councillors; Lib Dems, 16; Greens, seven; Independent Working Class Association, two.