Torbay MP urges Chancellor Rachel Reeves to protect hospital upgrade as building schemes paused

Liberal Democrat MP Steve Darling has urged the new Labour Chancellor to protect plans to upgrade Torbay's hospital, as hundreds of schemes have been put on pause.

In a letter to Rachel Reeves that he shared on the social media platform X, the new MP said he was "disappointed" to hear there was no money to fund the scheme.

It comes after the new Chancellor said "tough choices" would need to be made in a bid to deal with the "catastrophic" state of public finances.

Along with scrapping a number of local infrastructure schemes, Ms Reeves said on Monday that the government's new hospital building programme will be reviewed.

Mr Darling told ITV News West Country's political correspondent Lucy McDaid that he had "yet to fully find out" what Ms Reeves' announcement will mean for Torbay Hospital.

He said: "I'm just really shocked and disappointed by the state that the economy's been left in by the previous Conservative administration and the lack of honesty about some of the problems that we're facing."

The MP added that he was keen to meet with the Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, and the Chancellor to "champion the needs" of Torbay Hospital, where he said 80% of the estate was recently identified as "poor or bad quality".

Torbay MP Steve Darling has written to the Chancellor Rachel Reeves, asking her to spare Torbay Hospital from the swathe of cuts she announced on Monday 29 July.

Mr Darling went on to say that "in the last Care Quality Commission review of Torbay Hospital, a key part of it was the poor quality of the infrastructure...which is just absolutely damning.

"It promoted how the staff were very good but they were having to deal with inadequate facilities."

In a message to his constituents, the MP added: "I think that the case is unstoppable for the renewal of Torbay.

"The previous Government were only going to renew 50% of the hospital. I want to make sure that we get a proper job and get that 80% sorted, rather than the half measures we were having previously proposed.

"I will be pushing the case for Torbay Hospital, I think it's very strong and I will be meeting with the appropriate ministers and colleagues at Torbay Hospital to do that."

In a speech to the House of Commons, the Chancellor said "if we cannot afford it, we cannot do it," as she set out a series of "difficult choices" needed to make big savings.

According to Labour, there is a £22 billion hole in the public finances, which the Party has firmly blamed on the former Conservative government, claiming it overspent this year’s budgets by billions of pounds after making a series of "unfunded commitments".