Cllr. Steve Cooke

The cynical bare-faced hypocritical cheek of Blears is both astonishing and legendary. First she backed a government decision to close maternity units across the country, then she came to the protests when our local hospital had its maternity unit closed. Now the local paper has published a story saying she’s fighting for the retention of the maternity services at the same hospital.

http://www.salfordadvertiser.co.uk/news/s/1187224_we_want_our_babies_born_in_salford

I must say – the Advertiser must have a very short memory because they appear to have simply published a Labour press release without pulling her up on her record at all – a real pity because the paper was a huge driving force behind the original protests. Iain Stewart – the Salford MP that has been squeezed out by boundary changes and a lack of support from Labour activists is a man who really did fight the closures – such a shame the supine local Labour party backed a greedy careerist in his stead.

Here are some of the stories from 2006 onward:

“SALFORD MP Hazel Blears has sparked anger and confusion by suggesting she has helped save Hope Hospital’s maternity services”.

http://www.salfordadvertiser.co.uk/news/s/532121_midwives_slam_mps_hospital_claims

“Labour Chairman Hazel Blears was accused of hypocrisy after she joined a demonstration calling for maternity to continue at Hope, despite supporting a national policy of maternity reconfiguration.”

http://www.salfordadvertiser.co.uk/news/s/523313_hope_for_maternity_services

“What’s really made me angry is the way this city came together with a brilliant campaign in the Advertiser and it just fell on deaf ears. John Merry and Hazel Blears should have done a hell of a lot more but really they’ve just been paying lip service to it. It’s a shame that despite all the effort from everybody it’s just been iced over.”

http://www.salfordadvertiser.co.uk/news/s/521195_hope_campaign_united_our_city

“I don’t think that Hazel Blears has a very good record in Salford and I don’t think it is a socialist one. She was in the government when they closed down three of the post offices here and when they were closing down maternity units across the country. She campaigned against the closure at Salford Royal but she was closing them down elsewhere.

http://www.salfordadvertiser.co.uk/news/s/1122567_union_boss_vows_to_fight_next_election

“Hazel Blears, the Labour Party chairwoman, has been accused of hypocrisy after she joined picket lines to protest against a threat to close her local maternity services…critics said she had supported closures elsewhere to end NHS deficits”.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/blears-accused-of-hypocrisy-after-joining-protest-over-hospital-closure-430092.html

‘Campaign group Health Emergency accused Ms Blears of being hypocritical by opposing local closures while supporting central government policy.

Health Emergency’s head of campaigns, Geoff Martin, said Cabinet ministers were only supporting local protests “in a bid to save their own political skins.”

“There are 29 hospitals up and down the country facing the immediate threat of cuts and closure to key services in 2007.

“Will Hazel Blears be joining demonstrators on the streets in each of those areas or is this just a classic case of ‘not in my back yard’?”

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/6213445.stm

The voters of Salford are thankfully not as stupid and ignorant as Blears and Labour treat them.

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