BLACKBIRD Leys must move into the Henley MP constituency to prevent boundary changes to rural villages, the Conservatives have insisted.

The party said Blackbird Leys and Northfield Brook should move out of Labour-held Oxford East.

This would stop Ambrosden, Chesterton and Launton in north Oxfordshire and Radley, near Abingdon, moving into Tory-held Henley, it said.

And this, it argues, would “much better respect local ties” in the villages.

The comments come in response to proposed changes to constituency boundaries.

The Boundary Commission is demanding changes to make constituencies similar sizes.

But Oxford East Labour MP Andrew Smith told the Commission the Leys move would be a “grotesque breach of community ties”. He said: “Both wards are an integral part of the urban community of Oxford, with especially strong ties to Cowley.

“The residents in those wards would feel they have little in common with the rural areas making up the bulk of the Henley constituency.”

The Blackbird Leys resident and MP for 24 years, added: “I dare say that feeling would be reciprocated.”

Conservative Henley MP John Howell told the Oxford Mail: “What will be will be. It is up to the Boundary Commission to decide.

“I will be happy to represent what the geography of the constituency turns out to be.”

His party’s response backed moves that would put more city wards into Oxford East, which would be renamed Oxford.

The commission proposed moving Carfax from Oxford East to Tory-held Oxford West and Abingdon, renaming it Abingdon and Oxford North.

But the Conservatives said Carfax should stay in the Labour seat, which should also get the Oxford North ward from Oxford West and Abingdon. These “contain the overwhelming majority of the University of Oxford and the city centre” it said.

Oxford West and Abingdon MP Nicola Blackwood said this was a “constructive alternative” to moving her Radley ward to Henley. Moving Radley would make it an “orphan ward” with no strong ties to Henley, she warned.

The party said Witney – unchanged along with the Wantage constituency under commission plans – could take Hook Norton so Banbury would not lose Launton to Henley.

The Lib Dems also opposed moving Radley and Carfax.

And they say Sandford, Berinsfield, Garsington and Chalgrove should move from Henley to Oxford East.

The Labour Party did not oppose the commission’s proposals.

Plans must go before Parliament by October 2013 to be in place by the 2015 General Election.