Barrage of criticism for Hewitt

Prime Minister Tony Blair was forced to defend his position and her record after accusations from Tory leader David Cameron that he had hung her "out to dry".

Ms Hewitt also faced angry scenes in Brighton as she told midwives at the Royal College of Midwives' (RCM) annual conference of the need for closures to some maternity units.

As pressure mounted on the Health Secretary, the Tories released figures claiming that up to one in three consultant-led maternity units could close across England. They based that on a report from national director for maternity services Sheila Shribman which detailed closure within the Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust.

Two units each catered for around 2,500 births a year but, on their own, neither was big enough to justify the money needed to retain specialist skills, the report said. The Tories suggested that if other trusts across England took that figure as a guide, up to one in three units could close.

The figures were released as the Tories used one of their opposition day debates to table a motion calling for Ms Hewitt's salary to be cut by £1,000 - the traditional way of signalling no confidence in a minister.

Earlier, she faced angry midwives but insisted evidence showed there was a need for reconfiguring services. Doctors assessing changes in Manchester had told her that babies' lives could be saved that way, she said. She said she could understand why there was a need for other services outside midwifery-led units but that doctors and midwives had made a clinical case for change.

She admitted that recommendations on the potential closure of services in Manchester were "quite difficult and unpopular" but it was good for babies and mothers and that is "very convincing".

She said: "It makes perfect sense to me - as a mother of two - that if you are having a birth in a consultant-led unit and you need an anaesthetist, you want that anaesthetist to be a specialist, and that does mean you need more (care) than you would get at a midwifery-led unit."

The motion of no confidence was later defeated by 282 votes to 219, a Government majority of 63. A Labour amendment hailing increasing patient satisfaction and waiting times at a record low, was then carried by 269 to 207, a majority of 62.