A 2,000-name petition protesting against threats to local pharmacies in Swindon has been presented in the House of Commons.

South Swindon MP Julia Drown handed over the petition which was drawn up by chemists across the south of the town in the Commons chamber.

It urges the Government to throw out a recommendation that would scrap rules restricting the number and location of pharmacies.

Smaller pharmacists fear the change would open the door to allowing more supermarkets to dispense prescription drugs driving local businesses to the wall.

One of those who signed the petition was Andrew Phillips- Godfrey, a self-employed locum pharmacist currently working in Walcot.

He said: "The big worry about the deregulation of pharmacies is that it would enable people to set up pharmacies wherever they wanted.

"This would mean lots of communities would go without a local pharmacy because their trade would be taken in part by the big supermarkets.

"On top of that, the community itself would have lost a local service, and there has been enough of that happening, from butchers' shops to service stations."

Ms Drown recently met a delegation of more than half a dozen local pharmacists who fear they will be hit hard by the deregulation.

She said: "It is clear to me that people in Swindon, in particular local people, appreciate having a local pharmacist they know well."