Hundreds of high street chemists face closure after the Tories slashed funding for local pharmacies.
The Government said the money for chemists will be cut by £321million over the next two years.
Opponents warned the 7% loss in funding could put as many as 3,000 pharmacies at risk and pile pressure on the cash-strapped NHS .
Labour MP Michael Dugher said the move was ‘deeply reckless’.
He said: “Given that only around one in ten community pharmacies will be helped by the Pharmacy Access Scheme, that means around nine in ten pharmacies are potentially vulnerable to these cuts.
“These cuts will be a grave loss for our communities and a real hammer blow to our NHS, as it can only pile even more pressure on our already overstretched GP surgeries and A&E units.”
Tory MPs also spoke out against the cuts with former minister Anna Soubry saying it was ‘not a wise move’.
Health minister David Mowat admitted he had no idea how many pharmacies would close as a result.
He told MPs that the £2.8billion budget for community pharmacies would be cut by £113million this year and a further £208million in 2017/18.
Mr Mowat said: “Every penny saved by this reset will be reinvested and reallocated back into our NHS to ensure the very best patient care.”
He added: “We are confident that these measures can be made without jeopardising the quality of services.
“In fact we believe the changes will improve them.”
Rob Darracott, of the umbrella organisation Pharmacy Voice, said: “We have spent the last ten months explaining to them the value of community pharmacy, the pressure we take off other parts of the NHS and the money we save the Government by keeping patients out of GP surgeries and A&E.
“Yet, despite this opposition, the Government appears hell-bent on pressing ahead with this incoherent, self-defeating and wholly unacceptable policy and have replaced previous warm words with increasingly aggressive rhetoric”.
Shadow Health minister Barbara Keeley also slammed the cuts.
She said: “The Government’s plans are not only deeply unpopular, they are short-sighted and they will hit areas with the greatest health inequalities hardest.
“A study by Durham University has shown clearly that pharmacy clusters occur most in areas of greater deprivation and need.”