KIRKLEES councillors threw their weight behind the campaign to stop health services being removed from Huddersfield Royal Infirmary.

But they also ruled out a referendum on the controversial plans at the full council meeting at Huddersfield Town Hall yesterday.

The £60,000 bill was too much, the meeting decided.

Six abstentions apart, every single councillor voted against closing surgical, gynaecological, children's and maternity wards at the infirmary and transferring them to Calderdale Royal Hospital in Halifax. Earlier yesterday some councillors met officials of the Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Trust to discuss the proposals.

But Tory councillor Tony Brice and many of his peers said they were not convinced by the arguments for a transfer of services.

"Nothing I have heard today from the health trust has changed my opinion - this is a done deal," he told the packed meeting.

"I would like to state my clear opposition. This has always been my view from the commencement of this sham consultation.

"The trust claims its proposals are not cash driven and yet by not providing the essential services for complicated births it is revealed they are saving around £800,000.

"This whole farce is cash driven. It is about saving money and if the odd life is lost as a result - tough.

How many experts have to speak out against these changes - midwives, GPs, ambulance representatives - before people start to listen?"

A council scrutiny committee will discuss the proposals in more detail in January before the public consultation period closes.