Deputy Tory party leader Peter Lilley last night appeared to throw his weight behind opposition to the merger of Oxford hospitals.

Speaking at Oxford Town Hall as part of a nationwide 'Listening to Britain' tour, the man in charge of formulating Conservative policy for the next General Election said hospital mergers should only be considered if they could be proved to reduce deaths.

His comments came in response to a member of the audience who criticised the decision of Oxfordshire Health Authority to close the Radcliffe Infirmary in the centre of Oxford, and transfer services to the John Radcliffe and Churchill Hospitals in Headington.

Mr Lilley said: "If mergers are producing benefits then let us see the evidence, and that would be the best way to persuade the public that that is the best way forward, but if there is no evidence then we should stop these mergers."

A capacity audience also heard Mr Lilley give his thoughts on education and food safety.

On vocational education Mr Lilley said: "It could well be a criticism of Governments for many years that we have not had as successful a record in giving people vocational skills as other countries, but we have to have policies that are going to give values to people at the bottom." Mr Lilley agreed that teacher morale was a key issue in improving educational standards in schools.

He admitted that encouraging people to enter teaching as a profession would probably mean better pay.

On food safety, Mr Lilley said: "There is a great deal of concern about food safety and we have to learn the lessons of the past few years where problems have arisen both from inaction and where there have been unnecessary scares.

"We do not want to prevent the development of good and valuable foods for this country and more importantly for developing countries."

* Liberal Democrat leader Paddy Ashdown is to attack Labour's education policies during a visit to Oxford on Friday.

Mr Ashdown will visit Gosford Hill School in Kidlington, hit by Government cash cuts, during his whistle-stop tour of the region in the run-up to the local and European elections.

The school needs £500,000 to make the premises safe but has been offered just £3,000.

Mr Ashdown is also due to visit Didcot station, Abingdon town centre, Wytham Woods in Oxford and will talk to students about the issue of fees.

Story date: Wednesday 17 February

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.