The Green Party candidate campaigning to become Witney's next MP has acknowledged that Labour will form the next government but wants to help hold Labour to account in parliament.

Andrew Prosser, who is Executive Member for Climate Action and Nature Recovery at West Oxfordshire District Council, accepted Labour is likely to win nationally but said the Greens can push Keir Starmer's government for more action on the climate crisis.

He said: "We are all expecting there to be a change of government after this election, but rather than just electing a Labour government with a huge majority, if we have a strong group of Green MPs there, we can hold them to account, push them on their promises, and press them to take the action we need to address the environmental crisis.

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"Green MPs are best positioned to do this."

Mr Prosser will also campaign for a properly funded NHS to bring down hospital waiting times "and stop getting to see your GP or a dentist feel like such an uphill struggle".

"I will also push for the rapid transit links and dedicated bus and taxi lanes to ease traffic congestion and improve connectivity to the specialist hospitals in Oxford," he said.

Having served as a Witney Town Councillor from 2019-23 and been a district councillor since 2021, he wants to see building of more council-owned social housing, particularly in town centres,  protection for private renters through rent controls, an end to no fault evictions, reducing the numbers of empty properties, and ensuring that new developments come with great community services.

"I will always push to ensure that adequate transport, sewage, and community infrastructure is built-in from the start on new developments," he said.

And Mr Prosser, who started working with environmental technologies over 25 years ago, and and runs his own business helping international companies reduce their carbon, water, and supply chain impacts, said that sewage dumping caused by water companies was "a priority for me and the Greens".

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"Other parties are only committing to half measures on this issue," he said. "I am pushing for Thames Water to be brought back into public ownership, and broken up into a smaller organisation locally, rather than continuing as a giant out of touch monolith.

"This will help channel investment to infrastructure upgrades faster, rather than being squeezed out to overseas investors.

"It will also help to draw in other funding for upstream protected natural areas, to ensure water purity and reduce the risk of flooding in downstream towns and villages."

Parliamentary candidates for Witney are: Robert Courts, Con; Charlie Maynard, Lib Dem; Georgia Meadows, Lab; Richard Langridge, Reform.