A protest at a crucial health meeting in Huddersfield has been critcised.

Many who went to the consultation meeting at the John Smith’s Stadium were angered that up to 200 walked out, after heckling health bosses.

They were accused of being “rent a mob” on social media.

The meeting was the final public meeting to outline plans to move A & E services from Huddersfield to Halifax.

But the walkout prompted heated reactions.

One poster said: “Please don’t tar me with your ‘EVERYONE’ brush. I was in the room for the whole meeting and said nothing. I was trying to listen to what was being said - not easy with so many people in the audience shouting and heckling.

lucius92 said: "So rent a mob walked out. Who cares about them, the sensible people stopped and listened. As usual rent a mob tried to turn it into a political rally. I am against these proposals myself but i want to listen to the trusts proposals i do not want to listen to 200 corbyns with their left wing tripe.

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Another poster said: I don’t know whether it was an orchestrated walk out, but it wasn’t as spontaneous as the report appears. A Unison rep called for attendees who did not agree to the proposal to walk out and the sheeple followed - some wearing their matching t-shirts. Having constantly accused the panel of ‘not listening’ to them, their walk out and their own refusal to listen completely undermined their arguments and demeaned the campaign.

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Another said: I agree with you that the Trusts would do better to adopt a different perspective. More people stayed in the room than walked out, I think. It looked to me that just over 200 walked out and just under 300 people stayed on to ask more questions. No-one was pressured to walk out at and no-one was pressured to stay. That all seems pretty democratic.

TerryHallworth: Let’s be clear about who walked out, it was handsoffhri members orchestrated by Unison. They would have been better to stop all the heckling and asked more probing questions. They did a disservice to those with questions still to ask.