Campaigners for an elected mayor of Oxford have been praised by Oxford East MP Andrew Smith.

Mr Smith, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, said the level of support for a referendum meant voters must now be allowed to decide on whether the city should have an elected mayor.

He said 5,200 signatures on the petition organised by Demox (Democratically Elected Mayor of Oxford) represented a significant number.

He said: "The campaigners who gathered the signatures have worked hard to achieve this. It is entirely right that the people should have the opportunity to decide."

He said the Government was determined to give people the opportunity to bring about referendums through petitions and the time had arrived for the big debate to get under way in Oxford.

But the Cabinet minister declined to advise people on how to vote in the referendum.

"The important thing is to ensure that all the arguments are heard and people have all the information they need. As an MP I don't think I should be giving any steer on this," he said.

But Demox campaigners will be disappointed to learn that Mr Smith supported the idea of the mayor referendum being held on the same day as the local elections in May, which would save Oxford City Council £40,000.

He believed combining the two would ensure a far bigger turn-out and dismissed claims that voters would be left confused, with different issues muddled up.

Oxford West and Abingdon's Liberal Democrat MP, Dr Evan Harris, said he continued to oppose the idea of an elected mayor, which he believed would revolve around personalities, not policies.

Dr Harris said: "You run the risk that, instead of accountable, strong leadership, you get wealthy businessmen or controversial personalities fighting for their own egos.

"There's no evidence that mayors are any more accountable than locally-elected councillors, particularly given the 'first past the post' system."