MARTIN Tod, Winchester’s former Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate, has been battling against the NHS bill at his party’s spring conference.

Mr Tod, defeated by Steve Brine at the General Election in 2010, spoke against the controversial health proposals.

He was one of the keynote speakers at the Gateshead conference, forcing the issue against the wishes of the party leadership.

In his speech, Mr Tod, of Loyd-Lindsay Square, Weeke, said: “The bill is talked about as a simple system with your GP in charge. And it’s not.

“Firstly more than 40 per cent of the NHS’s budget will be controlled by the new national commissioning board. A quarter of local budgets is being transferred from your local area to the biggest national quango in UK history. Centralisation, not decentralisation.”