The Labour MPs in Berkshire have been criticised for voting against an effort to speed up the delivery of a new Royal Berkshire Hospital.
Dreams of a new hospital in Berkshire have been kicked into the long grass within the government’s new hospital programme to 2037, some 12 years away.
Liberal Democrat MPs introduced an ‘opposition day motion’ in Parliament that would have committed government funding to speed up the delivery of the programme.
However, Labour Prime Minister Sir Kier Starmer opposed the motion, arguing that the new hospital programme has been put “on a sustainable footing with a timeline that can be met, we’re not prepared to trade on false promises.”
Despite 77 MPs voting in support, 309 MPs voted against it, killing the motion when it was introduced on Wednesday, April 23.
The three Berkshire Liberal Democrat MPs Clive Jones for Wokingham, Lee Dillon for Newbury and Joshua Reynolds for Maidenhead voted for the motion.
Meanwhile, Berkshire’s five Labour MPs all voted against it.
They are Matt Rodda for Reading Central, Olivia Bailey for Reading West and Mid Berkshire, Yuan Yang for Earley and Woodley, Tan Dhesi for Slough and Peter Swallow for Bracknell.
No vote was recorded for Jack Rankin, the Conservative MP for Windsor.
Criticising his colleagues for not supporting the motion, Mr Jones said: “I am so disappointed by the Labour MPs in Berkshire failing to support our motion to commit the government to fixing the crumbling RBH.
“The Conservatives’ decision to abstain reflects the Tories shameful neglect of our local health services.
“I have spoken to so many in Wokingham, and in the region who are seriously impacted by the state of the RBH, so it is a shame the Labour MPs in Berkshire failed to stand up for their constituents.
“It is equally disappointing that the only Tory MP in Berkshire did not support it either.
“My Liberal Democrat colleagues and I will continue to push the government to pick up the pace in rescuing our local health services that we so desperately need.
“Patients and staff deserve the dignity of safe, modern and clean hospitals.”
Speaking to Wokingham Today, Yuan Yang said: “Since we received confirmation that the new development of the Royal Berkshire Hospital will indeed be built, I’ve worked with my colleagues Matt Rodda and Olivia Bailey to ensure that Reading is at the top of the Secretary of State’s mind.
“I’m glad that the government has delivered a fully costed and fully funded £2 billion commitment to building a world-class new hospital on a new site in Earley and Woodley.”
Asked about her vote against the opposition day hospitals motion, she said: “The Lib Dems’ motion would’ve made no difference to what I care about most, which is getting people in the Earley and Woodley constituency access to healthcare.
“The opposition day motion was playing politics with an issue which affects everyone in my constituency after 14 years of disastrous Tory mismanagement – and let’s not forget that it was the Lib Dems who supported the Tories when they started their austerity agenda in 2010.”
The Lib Dem motion was supported by Green, Reform and Independent MPs.
The new hospital programme was introduced by the previous Conservative government in 2019, with a promise to deliver 40 new hospitals in England by 2030.
Seven hospitals were added to the programme in 2023 as they were originally built with potentially hazardous ‘crumbling’ concrete.
The Royal Berkshire Hospital was one of the 40 identified to benefit from the programme, with the preferred option being for a whole new hospital to be built at either Thames Valley Park in Earley or Thames Valley Science Park in Shinfield.
But the project has been delayed by the Labour government to prioritise other sites.
Representatives of the Labour MPs in Reading have been contacted for response.
