Norfolk Lib Dems Hand in 8,000 Name Petition Following Westminster Health Rally

5.40.54pm GMT Sat 20th Jan 2007

Simon Wright, Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Spokesman for Norwich South, Norman Lamb, MP for North Norfolk, and April Pond, Parliamentary Spokesperson for Broadland, have taken part in a mass rally at Westminster to highlight the threat of closure of hospitals. They handed in a petition of around 8,000 residents objecting to the likely closure of community beds and hospitals in Norfolk on financial grounds to the Department of Health.

"We have had a fantastic response to the petition across the whole of Norfolk," says Norman Lamb MP, Liberal Democrat Shadow Secretary of State for Health. "The message that people are sending is very clear: 'Hands Off Our Hospitals'"

The text of the petition collected by the Liberal Democrats in Norfolk reads: "Hands Off Our Hospitals. We the undersigned call on the Secretary of State for Health to intervene to ensure that local hospitals in Norfolk are not closed because of the financial crisis in our health services.