BANNERS declaring 'Maggie makes us sick' were unfurled at a march opposing health service cuts in Oxford city centre.

Student doctors dressed in white coats led more than 500 people from the John Radcliffe Hospital to Oxford Town Hall in January 1988 as protesters got their message across.

At the town hall, Labour MP for Oxford East, Andrew Smith, accused Margaret Thatcher's government of seeking to undermine public confidence in the health service so it could be privatised.

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He added that health cuts could be stopped if the public and health service workers could link their campaigns.

So many people wanted to pack into the assembly room at the town hall that a second meeting had to be held in the council chamber.