He said "this is the latest in a long line of fights - firstly to secure a hospital in Telford and then a seemingly never ending battle to retain the services in it."
He was disappointed that the council has not robustly responded earlier to the statement by Peter Herring and launched its own campaign - "we did not need to wait for this meeting, six weeks, to launch our fight."
"Joint statements could and should have been made by all group leaders – as we did back in 2010 when a very successful campaign was waged by all groups on the council who spoke with the power of one voice.
The motion at that time was proposed and seconded respectively by the leader of the Conservative and Labour groups together. However despite a deafening silence from the council so far - we at least have the opportunity to join together now - as it is important to send a clear signal to Health Chiefs in the county that, as we did before with Mr Herring’s predecessor Adam Cairns – we will fight - and we will fight hard!
I am sure we are all weary of this continual speculation and worry that statements over the potential removal of A&E services from the PRH brings.
In this part of Shropshire, and I include Shifnal, Albrighton, Bridgnorth, Whitchurch and beyond - the population is set to increase by tens of thousands of people, how can anyone seriously contemplate removing A&E services from the PRH – or for that matter the RSH?"
Let me be clear – when it comes to A&E provision there will be no compromise in Telford & Wrekin and I would ask Mr Herring to seriously reconsider his remarks or reconsider his position and make way for someone that will start with the premise that A&E will be retained at both hospitals - and then start other discussions from that point.
In the previous fight we made it unequivocally clear that we would accept nothing unless A&E provision remained on both hospital sites. We received that undertaking - but of course people come and go from that senior hospital position – and now it is up to us to make sure that we don’t lose A&E.
However, as I said if we are to have any chance of succeeding then it must be together as a genuine joint cross party campaign to make sure that this authority secures A&E provision at the PRH for our community here in the borough and also at the RSH for people in Shropshire."