LABOUR campaigners in North Oxfordshire have called on their local MP to ‘hold the Prime Minister to ransom’ to protect acute services at the Horton General Hospital.

Sean Woodcock, the leader of the Labour group on Cherwell District Council, has said Banbury MP Victoria Prentis should use her influence as a Conservative MP in a hung parliament to block legislation that could harm the Horton.

Last week Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group (OCCG) held a meeting to discuss the first part of its consultation into transforming the NHS in Oxfordshire, which includes centralising some of the Horton’s acute services in Oxford and retaining a midwife-led, rather than doctor-led, maternity unit.

The downgrading of maternity at the Horton has been widely condemned.

Mr Woodcock said: “In her victory speech just two weeks ago; Victoria Prentis said that she wanted to work with Labour to protect services at the Horton.

“Well, I am asking her to listen to Labour now and hold her government to ransom if necessary in order to protect the services there.”

He added: “We now have a hung parliament and a weak Prime Minister scrabbling around to do a deal. Victoria has potentially more influence than any Banbury MP for a number of decades. She must be very clear that her support for the government, and her vote, is conditional on retaining key services at the Horton.”