Hartlepool Tory Candidate bombs in Live Radio Health Debate

11.24.49am BST (GMT +0100) Sat 1st May 2010

Hartlepool Tory candidate Alan Wright's attempts to turn the Election in the town into a single issue referendum on the local hospital suffered a further setback as a result of his performance during a live BBC Radio Tees debate between the four main party candidates yesterday.

The Tories, who finished third with only 4,058 votes in the 2005 Election, have promised to keep the University Hospital of Hartlepool open if their party is elected to power, but only if also they win in Hartlepool.

Pressured by Lib Dem candidate Reg Clark to confirm that if the Tories came to power nationally and if, as seems statistically certain, he wasn't elected, Alan Wright confirmed that in those circumstances the promise didn't stand.

Reg went on to describe this pledge as 'extraordinary - the most meaningless and vacuous I have heard in over 20 years in politics'.