I am delighted to share the news that over 700 local people have signed a petition calling on Tom Brake MP to oppose Clause 118, aka the "Hospital Closure Clause".

Clause 118 will allow Jeremy Hunt and any future health secretary to close any hospital or department in England. No consent from the clinical commissioning group (CCG) which runs it will be sought, and even where there is no sound financial basis for the decision the closure could proceed.

Tom Brake MP claims that the Clause would not threaten St Helier hospital. Tom Brake is either naive, or willfully misunderstanding the implications as he considers his vote- and his Ministerial position.

The Clause does not make a distinction between a successful hospital in a failing health economy, which will then get shut to pay for the problems facing other hospitals - as we saw with Lewisham.

St Helier could be linked to Croydon University Hospital under the new CCG Planning Unit guidance and then be downgraded to pay for a weak financial position there. Whether or not it does happen is immaterial; this clause allows that sort of scenario to develop, and by supporting the Clause Tom Brake puts his constituents' hospital at risk.

The clause 118 debate is about making decisions on local services at ministerial level and we think our hospitals should instead be locally accountable. We need commissioning bodies that have the guts to stand up for local people, which so far Sutton CCG has failed to do. The lack of a real fight for St Helier from our MP and Councillors, who are perfectly positioned to make a difference, illustrates the point that we need democratically accountable boards making commissioning decisions on integrated health and social care following input from CCGs.

Instead we have Mr Brake claiming to be campaigning to save a hospital, yet he is not prepared to use his vote in Parliament to avoid it being put in real jeopardy.

As a St Helier resident, I know how important our hospital is to the local economy. A quick straw poll of visitors and outpatients at the front of the hospital last week shows that of 72 people I spoke to, 44 had used local shops nearby as part of their visit- some 61%. If services go, it's clear that local businesses will suffer.

Our community will lose investment, services and transport links (which we are often reminded in these pages are close to Mr Brake's heart.) With reduced services for the community, it will become a less desirable place to live.

I am proud of our hospital and of the St Helier community, and it deserves better from those elected to represent the interests of local people and stand up for our services.

Niki Rosenbaum; St Helier Labour Party Action Team