- Labour in direct plea to Tory and Lib Dem MPs with local trusts in financial difficulty to ‘put constituency before party’ and block Health Secretary’s plans to cut local people out of decisions.

- Labour-led cross party campaign against Clause 119 that would give Jeremy Hunt the power to close or downgrade services without local people having their say builds ahead of crucial Commons vote tomorrow

- Lewisham case shows no community in England is safe from being cut out of decisions to close or downgrade hospitals if Hunt’s plans go through

The NHS trusts most at risk from the Health Secretary’s new “hospital closure clause” are today named for the first time. New analysis by Labour reveals there are 32 communities in England where NHS regulators have significant concerns over finances, which risk placing the trusts at the centre of area-wide reconfigurations that affect neighbouring hospitals.

If the Commons votes for the sweeping new powers tomorrow, Ministers will get the green light to impose downgrades on hospitals in neighbouring areas whilst local patients and clinicians would have little chance to object.

Ahead of the crucial vote, Labour has made a direct appeal to MPs in the areas most affected to join a growing cross-party campaign against the Health Secretary’s power-grab. Labour candidates in those communities are today writing to Tory and Lib Dem MPs urging them to stand up for worried patients and their local NHS.

Tomorrow, Labour will vote to delete the new rules from the Bill and will join forces with MPs of other parties to hand power back to local communities.

Tuesday’s debate comes after Jeremy Hunt’s plan to balance the books in a neighbouring trust by downgrading Lewisham Hospital was thrown out by the High Court. His response to that defeat was to bring forward rushed amendments to the Care Bill to give himself the powers denied to him by the court.

Andy Burnham MP, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, said:

“This Government used to say it wanted to put patients and doctors in charge of the local NHS. Now Jeremy Hunt wants to ride roughshod over local communities and have carte blanche to break up the NHS without anyone else having a say. He must be stopped.

"With more and more hospitals in financial difficulty, this move could hit every community in the land and leave them voiceless in the face of changes to their services.

"Labour is clear: changes to hospitals should be driven by clinical, not financial, reasons with local people involved every step of the way. That is why we believe these plans are dangerous and wrong. It is time for Parliament to stop an arrogant Secretary of State from overstepping the mark.”