WYRE Forest Labour General Election candidate David Lock has urged his independent rival to bow out of the race for Westminster, accusing him of misleading voters.

Mr Lock alleges that Dr Richard Taylor has "done a U-turn" over criticism of services at Kidderminster General Hospital, the issue which has driven his Parliamentary campaign.

"Dr Taylor's accepted it's not possible to have a full blue-light A&E unit and now he's calling for the bare minimum of cover," said Mr Lock, who claimed Dr Taylor was settling for in-patient services at Kidderminster and doctors based at the hospital's minor injuries unit.

"That's very different from an all-singing-and-dancing casualty unit with 24-hour surgical back-up," he said.

"Dr Taylor's misleading the electorate and letting down his supporters. He's a single issue candidate without a single issue and ought to withdraw."

Mr Lock claimed Dr Taylor now agreed with Labour.

But Dr Taylor, the Independent Kidderminster Hospital and Health Concern candidate, said he had no intention of stepping down.

He declined to respond to Mr Lock's comments, suggesting the Labour candidate wrote to him.

He confirmed that he had called for "the return of doctors 24-hours-a-day to the minor injuries unit and a return of in-patient elective surgery".

But he said those measures were "only the start".

"Other hospitals that have been downgraded have all retained more services than ours, which have been stripped to Worcester or Redditch," said Dr Taylor.

The Conservative candidate for Wyre Forest is Mark Simpson.