LABOUR have pledged to stop the proposed cuts to the opening hours of Warrington Hospital's A&E department should they win next month's general election.

The hospital's A&E department has been earmarked for a downgrade as part of NHS sustainability and transformation plans (STP), meaning it would no longer open around the clock.

But shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth says that the STP process, which aims to save £1bn in Cheshire and Merseyside by 2020, will be 'halted immediately' under a Labour government before being 'redesigned around the needs of patients'.

He said: "We have listened to the hundreds of patients and campaigners up and down the country that have been pleading with the government to hear their concerns about their local services.

"Threats of hospitals being closed, A&E services moved miles up the road and children's wards being shut have caused widespread concern and confusion.

"What is more these decisions have been decided behind closed doors with no genuine involvement of local people - it's a disgrace.

"The public deserves better - my first job as secretary of state will be to review every single STP proposal, looking at what's in the interest of quality of patient care.

"We'll ask a new body to lead that review and patients and local communities will be involved at every stage.

"Local people should be at the heart of decisions about how care is provided."