The much-awaited rebuild has been effectively paused while the government reviews funding for it, reports Marco Marcelline and Sebastian Mann, Local Democracy Reporter

Plans to rebuild Whipps Cross Hospital have been effectively paused while the government reviews funding for the scheme.

Speaking to her parliamentary colleagues in the House of Commons this afternoon, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves announced that the New Hospitals programme – Boris Johnson’s promise of 40 new hospitals by 2030 – would undergo a “complete review”.

In a move that prompted strong criticism from the opposition, the Chancellor said that the previous government’s commitment to build 40 new hospitals by 2030 was “undeliverable and unaffordable” as she promised a “reset” that would put the programme on a “sustainable footing”.

She added that hospitals deemed the most “urgent” to be built will continue to be delivered in a “realistic timeframe” – though it is not yet clear if Whipps Cross is one of those hospitals. A Treasury press officer told the Echo the hospitals review will begin in ‘due time’.

The troubled rebuild project had already been hit by a setback back in May when Barts Health NHS Trust, which manages Whipps Cross, said its 2030 construction deadline was “highly unlikely” to be met.

A spokesperson for Barts Health NHS Trust reacted to the news of the review today, saying it would “work with national and regional colleagues” in the NHS to “understand the implications” for the planned rebuild.

The news comes shortly after the health secretary, Wes Streeting, who represents Ilford North, said it was “painfully clear” that the £20bn Conservative launched “hospitals programme” would not be completed by 2030.

Announcing a review into the hospitals programme, he told parliament last week: “I want to see the new hospital programme completed but I am not prepared to offer people false hope about how soon they will benefit from the facilities they deserve.”

Activists from Action4Whipps have long pushed for a new hospital that adequately meets the needs of the local community. Last year, the National Audit Office and the Public Accounts Committee raised concerns that existing proposals for the rebuild will be too small for what is needed, and Action4Whipps said that it would likely not include the Margaret Centre, an end-of-life paliative care unit.

The Labour government is now however arguing that those proposals are “unfunded”.

In her speech today, Reeves added that the scheme had given people “false hope”. She revealed that only one new hospital had opened under the scheme and construction had begun on just six.

The chancellor added the government would produce a “thorough, realistic and costed plan” to replace the project. She said: “If we cannot afford it, we cannot do it.”

The construction of a new 500-space multi-storey car park at Whipps Cross is currently underway, and work on the hospital’s redevelopment was slated to begin next year.

Prior to the July 4th election, Labour committed to rebuilding Whipps Cross as well as five other London hospitals, and Labour candidates running for election in Waltham Forest had made the Whipps Cross Hospital rebuild front and centre of their electoral campaigns.

Reacting to Reeves’ announcement, Walthamstow MP Stella Creasy took to X (formerly Twitter) to criticise the Conservative opposition for their handling of public finances, saying: “I will never stop fighting for Whipps Cross to get the money it needs to be rebuilt or being angry with the Tories who wasted so much money that could have been spent on it failing to invest in it.”

Her office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on her reaction to the Whipps Cross plans being put on hold.

Speaking to the Echo following the chancellor’s announcement, the new Labour MP for Leyton and Wanstead Calvin Bailey pledged support for the government’s review into the country’s finances, and described the multi-billion pound “black hole” as “sickening”. Slamming Labour’s inherited situation, he said: “We assumed there would be long term spending gaps, which were much trailed, but to have spent the in year contingency three-fold, is mind boggling and upsetting. This is grossly incompetent.”

He added that he had a meeting already planned with the chief executive of Whipps Cross this Friday (2nd August) and a meeting with the health secretary Wes Streeting in order to “make sure…that [Whipps Cross] is at the top of the list” for funding.

Writing on X, Iain Duncan Smith, the Conservative MP for Chingford and Woodford Green, said he would “fight” Labour’s “terrible” decision to put the project on hold. He said: “The diggers are already on the ground carrying out the first phase of a rebuild, last time Labour were in government they tried to close our hospital. Now, one of their first actions back in government is to stop the rebuild of a much needed new hospital for Chingford & Woodford Green residents.”

Meanwhile, Emma Best, the leader of the Waltham Forest Conservatives told the Echo that Labour “do not care about [Whipps Cross] or the promises they made [to rebuild it]” and described the move as a “political choice” that would “devastate all of us that rely on Whipps Cross services”.

The Waltham Forest Liberal Democrats also stressed their concern at the news, telling the Echo: “It’s unbelievable that the much-needed redevelopment of Whipps Cross Hospital could be delayed yet again. At every election for the past 25 years, local MPs from both main parties have pledged to secure funding and get construction works started, only for nothing to happen.

“It would be a disgusting betrayal if, barely a month into the new Labour government, Calvin Bailey and Stella Creasy’s election promises about the Whipps Cross rebuild were broken. It would also be a devastating blow to the more than 350,000 residents across East London who rely on this vital 120 year old facility.”

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