Women and babies will die if maternity services are stripped from west Cumbria - and campaigners say they have the proof.

Concerns were already high ahead of crucial talks with health minister Ben Gummer in London yesterday.

Here a delegation of activists from the county presented a confidential document featuring real life stories from those who would not be here today if it wasn't for consultants in Whitehaven.

However it then emerged, in a leaked email seen by the News & Star, that ALL maternity services in west Cumbria could be under threat.

Health bosses in the county have previously insisted that they want to retain consultant-led maternity in Whitehaven if they can ensure it is both safe and viable.

If not, it was thought any higher risk births would have to go to Carlisle but low risk women could give birth in a downgraded midwife-led unit.

But the email, between staff at North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust regarding the business case currently being drawn up by NHS bosses, talks about the possibility of having no births at all in Whitehaven.

It details options discussed at a so-called maternity summit on June 17, which include full or partial consolidation of births at the Cumberland Infirmary.

Campaigners say they are "stunned" that it appears consultant-led maternity in Whitehaven is now not even being considered by bosses.

The Success Regime - the body leading the controversial shake-up of health services across north and west Cumbria - insists this is not the case, saying they are still considering all possible options at this stage.

A spokesman told the News & Star: "No decisions about any service changes, including maternity services, have been taken. All options, including consultant-led maternity services, are still under consideration."

But Rachel Holliday, from the We Need West Cumberland Hospital campaign group, is not convinced.

She said: "Having no maternity at West Cumberland Hospital was never put forward as an option so why on earth is this being discussed now?

"That email undermines everything was said in the Success Regime's engagement, yet we are expected to trust these people with the future of our health services."

Fellow campaigner Siobhan Gearing added: "If they really want consultant-led maternity like they say why are they not discussing that?"

Maternity was one of the issues high on the agenda at the meeting with Mr Gummer, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Care Quality.

On behalf of the group, Ms Holliday presented him with a confidential document featuring stories of 25 west Cumbrian women who would have lost their babies, or their own lives, if they had been forced to travel to Carlisle.

Mr Gummer accepted it, and said he was listening. However he said the final decision would not be down to him, but expert health professionals.

Afterwards Ms Holliday, currently Cumbria's Woman of the Year, said that she felt he didn't go far enough in reassuring the people of west Cumbria that lives wouldn't be lost.

She told the News & Star: "I just feel that, when you're asking someone for help and telling them that women and children are going to die if we lose our consultant-led maternity unit, I really want to hear the words 'I won't let that happen'. That's not what I heard."

The women featured in the group's report have shared their highly-emotive stories, in their own words, to help demonstrate the true consequences of losing consultant-led maternity at Whitehaven.

It has not been made public on their request.