Graham Eardley, United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) Parliamentary candidate for Watford, has urged his general election rivals to stop using the NHS as a “political football”.

Mr Eardley, who claims he can make a genuine impact at the coming general election, said voters were “fed up” with the argument about the future of Watford General Hospital.

He told the Watford Observer that recent Labour claims that a Tory Government would close the hospital were wrong.

He said: “The Labour argument that the hospital would close under the Tories is wrong. It’s just scaremongering. I would hope that people will stop using the hospital and the NHS as a political football.”

Mr Eardley, 44, nominated as Watford Candidate in November, also criticised the public sector workers who are currently mid-way through a two-day strike over reduced redundancy payments.

He said: “They have got to realise – compared to private sector workers facing statutory redundancy payments – how fortunate they are. Whoever wins the next election will have to make further cuts.”

Mr Eardley, a former Tory councillor in Walsall, said countless Watford businesses had been adversely impacted by European Union legislation but stressed in an interview this afternoon that he did not represent a single issue party committed only to withdrawing from Europe.

He added: “I would also stand up for the market and try and do something about train overcrowding.”

Another policy supported by Mr Eardley is his party’s proposal to ban Muslim women from wearing veils in public buildings.

He said: “If it stops one woman from being oppressed then surely it is worth it. It is also important that we are able to see people’s faces.

“I don’t think it is racist at all. We have Muslim members who support this policy as well.”