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When people say every vote counts, they are not kidding.

For example, take Barton and Sandhills in Oxford. Patrick Murray won there by the skin of his teeth - just four votes. Had five more people bothered to register their vote for Labour, the city council would today be run outright by Labour.

But more importantly perhaps, it would have been the only authority the party won control of during a disastrous night at the polls.

Oxford is a unique political area, of course. But results across the city are good news for Oxford East MP Andrew Smith, who holds what can only be described as a slender majority over the Lib Dems - just 963 votes.

We are two years away from a general election, so plenty can change - and probably will.

Labour in Oxford will take comfort that national issues did not play a massive part in voters' decisions here.

But the hard work starts now for a group that used to dominate the political scene in Oxford.

Labour took control from the Tories in 1980 - and held power continuously until 2000.

They claim to have heeded to voters' concerns on the doorsteps and have identified three concerns - run-down play areas, ailing leisure and a shambolic waste collection service. Now is the time to see if they listened.

6:52am Saturday 3rd May 2008

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