COUNCILLORS have launched a campaign to prevent Oxford City Council from being sucked into unitary rule.

Members of the council's Green party are fighting against the One Oxfordshire proposal, which would abolish district and city councils and replace them with one 'super council'.

Leader of Oxford's Green group Craig Simmons insisted that, while other authorities might be struggling to make ends meet, the city council has been 'efficiently' dealing with its own business.

He said: "The city council is a cost effective, efficiently run local authority that pursues its own agenda. While other councils in the county, and the county council itself, has been cost-cutting and privatising services, the city council is unique in retaining control over service delivery.

"[It has been] maintaining services, making no redundancies and pursuing progressive environmental and social policies such as the Oxford Living Wage. As the old saying goes, if it ain't broke, don't fix it."

He said Green party members on both city and county councils had united against Oxfordshire County Council's super council proposal.

Mr Simmons was concerned the new system will put Oxford under majority Conservative rule – hence the campaign's name of Save Oxford from Tory Rule.

He said: "This is not about geography, it is about ideology. It is wrong to impose a right wing vision of local government on to the city council when they have been successfully managing their own affairs and reflecting the views of their local electorate."

The county council claims the merge will save £20m compared to the current two-tier system.