New Hospital Programme Review

Luke Murphy Excerpts

Monday 20th January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Luke Murphy (Basingstoke) (Lab)]

There is no doubt but that this statement will be met with a deal of anger and frustration by my constituents. The hospital in Basingstoke is badly needed, and they are not getting the healthcare they deserve. The right hon. Member for North West Hampshire (Kit Malthouse) called on me to consider my position. I would call on him, were he still in his place, to consider his connection with reality, because there is absolutely no doubt where the blame for that anger and frustration should lie, and that is with Conservative Members. [Interruption.] They repeatedly told my constituents that the hospital was funded; it was not. They told us it would be delivered by 2030, but they themselves delayed this fictitious plan until 2033, and the right hon. Member has the gall to ask me to consider my position. I am surprised he could make it to the Chamber today, so weighed down he must have been by his brass neck.

That brings me to my question. I welcome the clarity that the Secretary of State has brought to the scheme and to the House today. A number of the hospitals in cohort 4, which includes Basingstoke hospital, have been moved forward, such as the hospitals in Milton Keynes and Kettering. I am of course delighted for my colleagues, but I would be interested to know why they have been moved, but Basingstoke is where it is. What confidence can the Secretary of State give my constituents that under our plan, unlike the previous Government’s, they can be confident that Basingstoke hospital will be delivered as we have set out?

[Wes Streeting]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his question. I am not surprised that Conservative Members tried to shout him down. They want to silence criticism of their record because they are ashamed of it. That is a simple fact. He is absolutely right about his parliamentary neighbour, who sat around the Cabinet table of the notorious Liz Truss, even as she crashed the economy, and then has the temerity to turn up and lecture other people about the sound management of public money. These people have no shame whatsoever, and they will have no credibility until they sincerely and honestly apologise to the country for the mess they made.

I am very happy to talk through with my hon. Friend and his constituents why his project has been phased as it has. There are a number of constraining factors—not just resources, but other factors such as allocation of land, planning and so on—but I reassure his constituents that we will deliver. I also reassure his constituents that, since his arrival in this place, he has been absolutely dogged and determined in speaking up for them and lobbying on their behalf.