its members are active in local campaigns, especially in parliamentary elections. towards the late 20th century, oxford west and abingdon was a conservative – liberal democrat marginal. it returned dr evan harris from 1997 until 2010, when he was defeated by nicola blackwood, a conservative candidate. however, in the 2017 election the constituency was won by layla moran, thereby swinging it back to the liberal democrats. in neighboring oxford east, traditionally a safe labour seat, there was an 11.2% swing towards the lib dems in 2005 general election. the margin of victory for andrew smith in 2005 was 963 votes - a 90% decrease from 2001. however, at the 2010 general election, andrew smith achieved a 4.1% swing in his favour, holding the seat for labour by a margin of 4,581 votes, and in 2015, the liberal democrats collapsed into fourth place, behind labour, the conservatives and the greens.