Everyone in Banbury is welcome to join the Keep the Horton General Campaign Committee members and Banbury Town Mayor Kieron Mallon.

Mr Parish, shaking with emotion as he heard the news, said: "I'm shivering.

"I'm absolutely overwhelmed. I must say thank you to the IRP and to Alan Johnson.

"I'm a Labour councillor and he has given back my faith that they do listen.

"I might have said things that sounded as though I was suspicious at the beginning of the week - but we've all been so tense about this.

"The ORH and the PCT have now got to find ways of making these essential services work. They've been told they've got to work with us, the stakeholders, and this is what we've spent since 2003 fighting.

"I'm over the moon. Thousands of people came to our rally, Tony Baldry has been fantastic - there's been no-one in Banbury who hasn't been behind us every step of the way.

"We've never faltered, we believed we could and should win and this is a wonderful day for Banbury, Oxfordshire and surrounding counties.

"I'm standing 20 feet high. The campaign is meeting at the town hall at 2pm and we'd love to see everyone there. We're going to have a victory walk to the Horton."