Labor say the Tories will not deliver on their pledge to build 40 new hospitals by 2030

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Health Secretary Steve Barclay has been urged to 'clean up' and admit the Tory's promise to build 40 new hospitals in England by 2030 can no longer be held.

< p>Mr. Barclay insisted Rishi Sunak's government remained committed to Boris Johnson's 2019 manifesto pledge - but revealed there had been a change to the hospitals included in the scheme.

< p>The Health Secretary also acknowledged that construction work may not be complete by then for several of the 40 hospitals in the initial group.

Instead, some hospitals risk collapsing and in need of urgent upgrading will now be added to the programme, amid concerns over the use of Raac (reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete) materials.

This means that some of the hospitals in Originally planned under the scheme will see work begin - but Mr Barclay admitted that 'not all work' on these will be finished by 2030.

Labour's shadow health secretary , Wes Streeting, said Mr Barclay should "be clear" and be "outspoken that whatever the former prime minister promises... the commitment to build 40 new hospitals by 2030 is not all just not going to happen".

Accusing the Tories of "over-promising and under-delivering", Mr Streeting said many of the reconstruction projects at existing hospitals "weren't even new hospitals".

The Labor leader accused Mr Barclay of having "the audacity to repeat that promise today when he surely knows that even if the will is there and even, if as he says the money is there, practically I just don't see or understand how he will be able to deliver 40 new hospitals by 2030."

Mr Barclay said to MPs that the Government had pledged to eradicate Raac from the NHS domain - with seven hospitals built entirely or largely with materials that are "not sure to function beyond 2030".

Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting

He said two of the programs, West Suffolk Hospital and the James Paget Hospital in Great Yarmouth, were already part of the new hospital scheme, but that the other five have now been a...