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High Court reinstates Mark Cherry as county election winner in Ruscote
11/08/2021
Jayne Strangwood was wrongly named as the winner at the declaration in May
Following a High Court legal challenge the declared result of May’s County Council election for the Banbury Ruscote seat has been overturned.
The result, announced at Spiceball Leisure Centre on May 9, saw serving Labour County Councillor Mark Cherry lose his seat to the Conservative’s Jane Strangwood. It was stated that Mrs Strangwood received 1173 votes against Mr Cherry’s 795.
When the District Council count for the Ruscote ward was announced Mr Cherry was the winner receiving 947 votes whilst Mrs Strangwood received 767 votes. Speculation began as to the difference between the two results.
Later in the day a spokesperson for the Returning Officer said ‘It has been brought to the attention of the Returning Officer that a possible administrative error has occurred. All relevant candidates and agents have been advised.”
Subsequently the Banbury and Bicester Labour party issued a statement saying: “With regards to the Banbury Ruscote County Council election; Labour will be launching a formal challenge to the declaration of the result.
“It is widely accepted that an admin error was made in the declaration of the result and all parties are keen to rectify this ASAP.”
In line with long-established practice the matter was referred to the High Court and in July approval was given for a recount to take place.
This established that the result had been incorrectly declared.
A Special Case High Court hearing earlier today was informed that the winning candidate in Banbury Ruscote division should have been declared as Mark Cherry. The High Court therefore determined that the previously declared election result was declared in error and that Mark Cherry was duly elected and ought to have been returned as the county councillor for Banbury Ruscote.
Yvonne Rees, Returning Officer of Oxfordshire County Council, said: “I would like to thank everybody who has been involved in this process for their co-operation and patience. Although the potential for an error was discussed on the day of the election count we knew that given the result had been declared we would have go through the correct legal channels to establish whether this was the case.
“We have now gone through each stage of that legal process, conducted a recount and reached a final conclusion. This means that Mark Cherry will be the county councillor for the Banbury Ruscote division.”
Published: by Banbury FM Newsteam