Tory plan to rebuild Airedale Hospital was "nothing more than false hope", says Health Minister

A senior government health minister has criticised the previous Conservative administration's plan to rebuild Airedale General Hospital in Steeton, calling it "nothing more than false hope" and "dodgy claims."

During an interaction with Shipley MP Anna Dixon in the House of Commons on Wednesday, Stephen Kinnock MP, the Minister of State for Social Care, strongly condemned the Conservatives' 'New Hospital Programme.' The initiative had promised to deliver 40 new hospitals across the country, including the reconstruction of Airedale Hospital.

Last autumn, the new Labour Government initiated a review of all New Hospital Programme (NHP) projects after it was revealed that the programme's funding was only secured until March 2025. In January, Health Secretary Wes Streeting confirmed that the rebuild of Airedale Hospital, which serves residents from nearby Bingley and other villages, would proceed and was included in the new government's highest priority delivery wave.

Speaking to Mr Kinnock in the Commons Chamber, Anna Dixon MP for Shipley said: “Does the Minister share my constituents’ anger at the failure of the Tories to back up any of their promises about new hospitals?

“Will he reassure me that my constituents who are served by Airedale General Hospital will finally get a new hospital to deal with the RAAC in an affordable, deliverable timetable, unlike the false promises of the Conservatives?”

In response, the Minister stated: “Trust was fundamentally undermined by the disingenuous nature of what went on with the previous hospital programme.

“The British people are grown up enough for us to be able to level with them, be straight with them and say, ‘This plan is credible and affordable. It’s based on facts, not fantasy’.”

Earlier in the debate, the health minister said of the Tories' New Hospital Programme: “The programme was hugely delayed.

“There was no credible plan to deliver the building projects, let alone to deliver them all in the next five years, and there was not even enough construction capacity in the UK to build all the hospitals in the new hospital programme by 2030.

“Perhaps most shocking of all, the funding for the programme was due to run out a month ago, with no provision whatsoever for future years: the money simply was not there. The programme was built on nothing more than false hope, dodgy claims and disingenuous press releases.”