Keir Starmer visits Oxfordshire just three days before general election

Sir Keir Starmer visited Oxfordshire ahead of the UK general election this week.

The Labour Party leader went to Heath Farm, near Banbury on Monday as he continued his tour of the usually safe Conservative rural seats.

Now part of the Banbury constituency, the area was once represented by David Cameron, who visited the farm when he was the local MP in 2003.

Joined by Rachel Reeves and shadow Treasury chief secretary Darren Jones, Sir Keir spoke to activists in a woodshed next to a motorcycle garage and a sourdough bakery.

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Sir Keir Starmer said planning reform is his highest priority as he committed to start work on it “straight away” if he is elected later this week.

Asked if his first action would be to reform the planning system, the Labour leader replied: “Yes.”

Speaking to ITV News, he added: “We cannot go on with the system as it is. Infrastructure takes years. Housing takes years to build. We’re too slow. We’re too expensive. We’re over budget.

“We cannot go on like that. We have to take the tough decisions to get the country moving. And we’ll start on that if we’re elected in to serve our country, we’ll start on that straight away.

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Sir Keir also said he wants to see “an NHS that’s not just back on its feet, but fit for the next 75 years”.

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