Voters in four villages want to stay with Banbury rather than switch to Henley when it comes to electing their MP.

They are objecting to being moved from one constituency to another to level up the number of voters between constituencies in Oxfordshire.

Under proposed boundary changes, the villages -- Ambrosden, Chesterton, Wendlebury and Middleton Stoney -- will be switched from the north Oxfordshire to the south Oxfordshire constituency.

But parish councillors oppose the move.

Ray Walters, Ambrosden Parish Council chairman, said: "We have much more affinity with Bicester and Banbury than Henley. We objected strongly to the proposal."

Chesterton Parish Council chairman David Chapman said: "It's pointless to be broken away from the area we have been associated with for many years.

"We want to have an MP who deals with the whole area rather than suddenly find ourselves on the fringe of another area where people do not know our problems."

At Wendlebury Parish Council, chairman Frank Shouler recalled that when he was a boy the village was in the old Henley/South Oxfordshire constituency.

But Mr Shouler said: "We are happy with the situation as it is now."

District councillor Andrew Fulljames, who covers all four villages, said: "Bicester, in the Banbury constituency, is the focal point for us."

Mr Fulljames, who is also Middleton Stoney Parish Council chairman, added that the villages were only a few miles from Bicester and the town was part of the fabric of the rural area.

Bicester South county councillor, Charles Shouler, brother of Frank, pointed out that while most people accepted other rural wards might go into the Henley constituency, residents in the Ambrosden and Chesterton district ward did not.

He added: "The regional Labour Party proposed moving the villages to take out a Conservative voting area from the Banbury constituency, believing this might help them win the Banbury seat."

But Labour's Les Sibley, Bicester North county councillor, denied this.

Mr Sibley, who is also a Bicester town and district councillor, said: "This is just a tidying up exercise.

"If the other wards at Otmoor and Kirtlington are moved to Henley, it makes sense for the Ambrosden and Chesterton wards to go too."

The result of an inquiry into boundary changes will be known later.

Bicester town councillors have suggested the Banbury constituency should be called Banbury and Bicester.