In a seat which has been Labour for a decade longer than the average Oxford fresher has been alive, you might think that a victory for incumbent Andrew Smith was all but assured. Nonetheless, things aren’t all that straightforward in Oxford East.
Smith’s majority had shrunk progressively since Labour won the seat in 1997 with a 34 per cent majority, and he only held on in 2005 by under a thousand votes. However, in the last election, Labour increased their share of the vote, winning by 8.9 per cent; this might sound unassailable compared to the extremely tight race that is taking place up past St Giles in Oxford West & Abingdon, but in fact, according to voterpower.org.uk, a vote in Oxford East is worth 1.4 times the UK average.
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Oxford East’s boundaries stretch through the centre of Oxford, splitting University Parks and dividing the city along Keble Road and Little Clarendon Street, before turning south along Walton Street. As a result, the catchment area includes most Oxford colleges, Brookes, Cowley, Marston, Headington, and Blackbird Leys. Students and residents of traditionally working class Cowley account for the strong Labour presence here; the Lib Dems used to contest this seat closely, as they are in Oxford West and Abingdon, but doubtless they will do poorly on polling day despite charismatic candidate (and, incidentally, Cherwell alumnus) Alasdair Murray. As might be expected, the Left will do strongly amongst students in Oxford East, with Labour and the Greens taking over 60 per cent of the vote between them in our poll.
As for the main issues, Oxford’s housing crisis will be at the forefront of all the candidates’ minds, with the city named recently as the least affordable place to live in the UK (London and Cambridge came second and third respectively). Alongside this, student fees will doubtless play a part in swaying the votes of students at both Oxford universities, whilst social issues remain a major issue for everyone, predominantly homelessness and the NHS.
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Oxford East’s varied social make-up is reflected in its numerous candidates, including eccentric local figure Artwell, an independent, and the Monster Raving Loony Party’s Mad Hatter, aka Alasdair de Voil.
The seat also boasts a smorgasbord of leftist candidates, with the Socialist Party and the Trade Union and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) standing alongside the more mainstream Green candidate. As for the Right, controversial UKIP candidate and outspoken critic of LGBTQ+ rights Julia Gasper has been replaced by the younger Ian MacDonald.
The incumbent: Andrew Smith, Labour
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Andrew Smith has been the Member of Parliament for Oxford East since 1987. He still resides in Blackbird Leys in south-east Oxford, but in 2009 was found to have claimed over £34,000 in parliamentary expenses for renovations on his second residence in Kennington, south Longon, between 2004 and 2008. Smith has held two Cabinet positions, including Chief Secretary to the Treasury and Secretary of State for Work and Pensions from 2002-4.
In parliament, Smith generally votes along party lines, but has been known to rebel against Labour whips, such as in his rejection of renewing Trident (one of 19 to do so) and his vote in favour of an EU referendum. In accordance with Labour policy, he voted against the reduction of social housing allowance on those with spare bedrooms (the ‘bedroom tax’), against increasing VAT, in favour of banning fox hunting and in favour of the mansion tax, as well as in favour of the 2012 rise in student fees.
Unfortunately, due to family reasons Andrew Smith was unable to speak to Cherwell, but Oxford University Lavour Club Co-Chair Madalena Leao says of him, “Andrew Smith ahs represented the people of Oxford East since 1987 working hard for students, He supports the Labour cut in tuition fees to £6000. He has a strong track record in supporting young people, working in the past to bring in Labour’s New Deal to reduce youth unemployment. He will also work for a greener, more peaceful future, voting not to renew Trident.
Melanie Magee, Conservatives
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The former mayor of Bicester and current Vice Chairwoman of Cherwell District Council, Melanie Magee is no stranger to local politics. She names her main targets as reducing local youth unemployment by increasing the uptake of apprenticeships and traineeships and addressing crime rates in Oxford East.
Macgee told Cherwell, “I will continue to engage with all residents, using my working knowledge of the area gained through work in the our local NHS, the private sector and education sector. I will use the experience of my own background and achievement having been born on a council estate in a multicultural inner city bullied as a child, and later as a single mum in my early 20s. Despite life’s early challenge, I aspired to achieve and became a Councillor supporting the community in Bicester, I was elected as Mayor in 2013, and Vice Chairman of Cherwell District Council in 2014. I am committed to the community.”
Magee has lived in Bicester for 14 years with husband David and daughter Dannie.
Alasdair Murry, Lib Dems
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The albatross of student fees hangs heavily around the neck of any Lib Dem candidate in a seat where there is a large student body, and Alasdair Murray’s chances will doubtless have taken a hit as a result. Speaking about what he called “the elephant in the room”, Murray told Cherwell, “I’m not going to defend the decision to run the 2010 campaign on tuition fees. I felt at the time it was unsustainable; that was proved right. The party leadership felt otherwise and it made a mistake, and is still paying for that mistake now.”
In a move that may win back many an Oxford student, Murray has made the improvement of local mental health care a central part of his manifesto, as well as solving the housing crisis in Oxford. Murray said, “In the last two elections, the Liberal Democrats have run Labour very close. There is a huge demographic change going on which means that Labour certainly can’t take it for granted any more.”
Mr Murray lives in east Oxford with his wife and two children. Before turning to politics, he worked on a national newspaper and for two British think tanks. He replaced the original Lib Dem candidate, Mark Mann, who stepped down for family reasons.
And the rest…
The three ‘main’ parties – if they can be called that following the transition into the mainstream of both UKIP and the Green Party – are by no means the only options in a seat which is contested by a total of nine candidates.
A nemesis of the local council after he and other tour guides took issue with regulations on advertising, the Mad Hatter was born Alasdair de Voil in Scotland, before moving to Oxford to teach. Despite jokey policies like an endorsement of Louis Trup’s monorail plans, he raises a number of valid points, naming the housing crisis as the most important issue in Oxford, and offering a mission statement of engaging young people in politics as well as offering voters a safe protest vote.
The Mad Hatter told Cherwell, “The Monster Raving Loony Party means different things to different people. Some people who vote for them tend to be cynics. If you’re like me, then you’re just so fed up with having been promised the same old thing by mainstream parties, and I want to stand up and use humour to shine a light on the issue.
“It takes being angry with something to stand as a candidate, not just a joke.”
Nor should Green candidate Ann Duncan be taken too lightly; she is after all someone who can boast of working for both the World Bank and the Department for International Development. On top of national Green Party policies, Duncan is a prominent champion of the campaign to protect Port Meadow from the University’s Roger Dudham Way development, as well as to regulate new building projects such as Diamond Place in Summertown. The Greens have also pledged to improve cycle paths throughout Oxford, in an assurance that will appeal to students all too familiar with the treacherous pot holes and meagre cycle paths of the city centre.
UKIP, meanwhile, have replaced 2010 candidate Julia Gasper with the far less controversial Ian MacDonald. MacDonald raised £250 of his £500 election deposit through small crowdfunding donations, and may do better than one might expect in a seat as multicultural and student-heavy as Oxford East. MacDonald has taken up the cause of a number of local issues, including opposition to the development of green space near the site of Barton Park, an upcoming construction project aimed at providing Oxford with 885 new homes.
Both the Socialist Party and Trade Unionist and Socialist Alliance (TUSC) have put forward candidates in Oxford East for the first time, so options for the Far Left are unusually varied for those so inclined. However, the most anti-establishment might come in the form of a local campaigner, the mononymous Artwell. Having campaigned against the closure of Temple Cowley Pools, he caused controversy by refusing to remove a golliwog rom his outfit when talking to the BBC in January. Artwell’s aim is to “Save England from austerity…from industry using the environment as a place to dump its dirty waste; to stop English involvement in many Arabic wars and war spending.” Artwell is also decidedly against austerity, stating, “Vote for me, Artwell, to free the Treasury from the control of the banks, for the benefit of this nation.”
