Maternity beds cut by 18pc under ten years of Labour

David Cameron said evidence obtained by the Conservatives showed there had been a 18 per cent reduction in the number of beds in maternity wards across England since 1997.

In some areas, the damage is even greater, with 40 per cent of beds lost in South Yorkshire and North-West London, 35 per cent in Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland and 32 per cent in Essex and County Durham.

The Tory leader promised the Government a "bare-knuckle fight" over its plans to downgrade district hospitals, which he said were putting 40 maternity units under threat.

Women in labour face having to travel miles to give birth under proposals that could see local centres closed in favour of larger specialist units.

The figures, released by the Department of Health, will heighten fears about the experience of pregnant women in overstretched Health Service maternity units.

Almost two-thirds of women in a recent survey complained they had been left alone too soon after giving birth. It is estimated that the NHS has a shortage of 10,000 midwives.

The Tories say the falling number of beds and dearth of midwives shows maternity services are "in crisis", though Gordon Brown accuses them of scaremongering.

Overall, the number of maternity beds per 100,000 people across the country has dropped from 22 in 1997 to 18 today, a 14 per cent reduction.

Ministers claim falls in the number of NHS beds are a sign of success because they show patients are being treated outside of hospital. Yet only around one in 50 mothers chooses to give birth at home.

Speaking on a visit to the threatened Horton General Hospital in Banbury, Oxfordshire, yesterday, Mr Cameron said: "There are 40 maternity units currently under threat and 90 accident and emergency units under threat.

The Government does not believe in district general hospitals.

"I promise the Government that there will be an absolute bare-knuckle fight on this."

Mr Cameron met distressed staff who complained about proposals to downgrade their hospital's maternity unit to a midwifery unit, sending newborns with serious problems to Oxford, nearly 30 miles away.

He said the situation was being repeated across the country.

The Tory leader argues that with both population levels and tax rates increasing, voters expected health services to be improved, not downgraded.

A Health Department spokesman said: "Everyone knows that hospital services are changing. We set out plans to shift some services into the community to ensure faster, better and more convenient access for patients.

"The NHS is also looking at the safest and most effective way of delivering care. This does not mean wholesale closures of district general hospitals but it does mean that NHS clinicians and managers need to work with local communities to decide on the best organisation of services for patients in their areas.

"Any decision on significant changes to services will only be made after full public consultation with local people."