CAMPAIGNERS in East Oxford have pledged “no Temple Cowley Pools, no votes for Labour”.

Members of Save Temple Cowley Pools hope to overthrow Labour MP for Oxford East Andrew Smith in May’s General Election.

They have produced 100 badges that say they will not vote Labour unless the Temple Cowley Pools site is reopened as a community swimming pool.

Donations given for the badges will go to the Save Temple Cowley Pools fund to contest the £3.5m sale of the Oxford City Council-owned site to housing association Catalyst Housing.

Campaigner Chaka Artwell said: “We need to send a clear message to the Labour group. They don’t care about the people of Cowley and continue to shut down public services.

Mr Artwell plans to stand for election in the constituency, held by Labour since 1987.

He said: “It’s currently in the planning stages, but I’m planning to run under a party called the East Oxford Sunshine Party.”

In response to the badges, Mr Smith said: “The council faced very difficult choices as half its government grant has been taken away and it needed to replace not only Temple Cowley pool but the old pool in Blackbird Leys as well.

"At the height of this controversy, Labour won all the wards around Temple Cowley pool in the local elections, so most of the public understand the difficult decision the councillors had to make.

"They also understand that a General Election is about choosing an MP and a Government.”

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