USING Facebook and other platforms online were key parts of Labour's campaign this election.

Labour candidate Suzette Watson, who was selected to stand in the Banbury seat in April, said social media provided a great way to engage with people.

She used sites such as Twitter, Youtube and Facebook to not only present her party's views and policies but to also encourage people to contact her about any issues they have or questions they want answered.

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She said: “Seeing the huge uptake in social media and people generally using it as a means of communication it would have been ridiculous to ignore that and think that it was only going to be a face-to-face kind of campaign.

“We want to engage with people as much as possible and social media allows you to do that but also allows them to respond too and I think that's a really important part of my campaign, it's been about listening to engage and not being like a broadcast out.

“There are some very large local groups across Facebook and other platforms that are full of people who want to talk about all the issues so it’s very useful.”

But the candidate also said that old-fashioned door knocking and meeting people face-to-face was important as well and helped to encourage starting conversations on issues that really matter to people.

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Ms Watson added: “You just have to know the basics and start a conversation. Know what it is that is important to you and then listen to people, so that’s also been a great community exercise.

“You always find that there are common points so it’s been a really positive campaign.”

The candidate received 17,335 votes compared to 20,989 last election.