Health campaigners protested outside Parliament yesterday as Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt spearheaded a vicious move to close hospitals without consultation.

Protesters gathered with Labour MPs around a Unite union-sponsored van bearing a lurid graphic of Prime Minister David Cameron sitting astride a wrecking ball.

The calls to stop Mr Cameron and Mr Hunt wrecking the NHS came as MPs debated the infamous clause 119 of the government's Care Bill.

Hospitals could face closure within just 40 days without proper consultation under the hotly-contested clause.

The measure was slipped into the Care Bill after a court ruling last year which found that ministers had acted illegally when they put forward plans to downgrade maternity and A&E services at London's Lewisham Hospital.

Wide-scale reorganisations could be imposed by trust special administrators where finances are in crisis, leading to downgrades of hospitals in neighbouring areas.

Labour shadow health secretary Andy Burnham warned that 32 communities in England face imminent hospital cuts government's rush to change the law.

Mr Burnham accused Mr Hunt of "wanting to ride roughshod over local communities and have carte blanche to break up the NHS without anyone else having a say."

The government's new powers "could hit every community in the land and leave them voiceless in the face of changes to their services," warned Mr Burnham.

Shadow health minister Andrew Gwynne told protesters "we must make clear that we will never forget or forgive (the government) for the damage they have done to the NHS" if the clause passed.

British Medical Association chair Dr Mark Porter said that doctors were "deeply anxious" about the clause.

Campaigners interrupted their protest outside Parliament and stood in silent tribute to deceased RMT leader Bob Crow