KEN Houlahan writes that “the only way to save Bishop Auckland hospital is to vote Labour” (HAS, Oct 17).

We’ve heard this rhetoric before.

In 1997, according to Labour, there were 14 days to save the NHS. In 2009, there were six weeks to save it. In October 2011, there were 48 hours to save it. In 2012, there were three months, then in 2015, 52 hours.

Most recently, in 2017 in Copeland, there were just three days to save the NHS.

Somehow, despite their scaremongering, our NHS is intact, and is set to receive its biggest cash injection ever.

Why? Because the Conservative Party I am proud to be a part of has a true commitment to the NHS. Instead of just talking, we act.

The hospital was opened under Labour’s PFI scheme which we, as taxpayers, are still paying over the odds for all these years later.

Within months of opening, the first services were stripped away and, under a Labour government and local Labour MP, there were downgrades to the maternity unit, children’s unit, orthopaedic service, general surgery, and intensive care, and removal of the special care baby unit, surgery, and haematology.

If that is what voting Labour does to our local NHS, then it’s a no from me.

Labour has had its chance in Bishop Auckland. It has failed to deliver, and to believe voting Labour is the only way to save the Hospital is to ignore history.

Dehenna Davison Fareham, Conservative Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Bishop Auckland