Health minister Ivan Lewis has denied he is a hypocrite after supporting a shake-up which includes the closure of a maternity unit he campaigned to save - reports the Manchester Evening News.
Last year, the Bury South MP joined a march aimed at keeping full maternity and children's in-patient care at Fairfield General Hospital.
But he has now backed the decision of an independent panel to close four of Greater Manchester's 12 maternity departments, including Fairfield.
Mr Lewis called criticism a smear campaign and said it was unfair and untrue because he has always accepted doctors' arguments that the current system was unsafe.
He said that although he believes there is a strong geographical argument in favour of a full service for children at Bury, his constituents will benefit from the £60m investment that comes with the shake-up.
Shadow Health Secretary Andrew Lansley claimed Mr Lewis had bowed to pressure from Gordon Brown to back the cuts.
He said: "This is an incredible U-turn by Ivan Lewis. Only a few months ago he was campaigning to save his local maternity services. Ivan Lewis has been squeezed by Number 10. Either that or he is indecisive in the extreme."
Maternity units in Trafford, Rochdale and Salford will also close by 2011 because of a shortage of specialist staff.
Sharron Entwhistle, from Fairfield Baby Lifeline Society, which led the support for the unit, said: "Ivan Lewis has supported us and we are grateful for that - as a result of our campaign we have won concessions.
"I don't think he is a hypocrite but as a health minister he should have a lot of influence and we believe he could have done more to help - whether he could have made more of a difference, who knows?"
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