Labour's shadow health secretary has committed to completing the Watford General rebuild plans if the party is elected.

A new "state of the art" hospital is set to be built next to the current site, pending government money, which the Conservatives have said will be fully funded.

It is one of 40 new hospitals that were promised by 2030 as part of a Tory manifesto.

This morning (June 4), shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said: “Only Labour has a plan to deliver the change our NHS needs. We are committed to delivering the New Hospitals Programme, including Watford General Hospital.

Watford Observer: Shadow Health secretary Wes Streeting.Shadow Health secretary Wes Streeting. (Image: PA)

“And we will cut NHS waiting times with 40,000 extra appointments a week at evenings and weekends, paid for by clamping down on tax dodgers and non-doms.

“We need doctors, not dodgers; nurses not non-doms.”

He also questioned whether the government will be able to deliver the plan by 2030, with no hospitals built so far.

Watford Observer: Labour parliamentary candidate for Watford Matt Turmaine.Labour parliamentary candidate for Watford Matt Turmaine. (Image: Watford Labour)

Labour’s parliamentary candidate for Watford, Matt Turmaine, added: “There is no clearer sign of the damage the Conservatives have done to our NHS than the crumbling hospital patients in Watford are being treated in.

“They have failed to build it before this election, and given another five years they will fail again."

He continued: “If I’m elected as MP for Watford, I will campaign day and night to get Watford General Hospital rebuilt, working with a Labour government to get this done as soon as possible.”

Watford's Tory candidate, former MP Dean Russell, has previously said that “under a Conservative government the new hospital is certain".

Watford Observer: What the new Watford General Hospital could look like. What the new Watford General Hospital could look like. (Image: BDP/West Herts NHS Trust)Since being elected he fought for agreement on the scheme and celebrated when former health secretary Steve Barclay said in Parliament that Watford would have a "fully funded" hospital last May.

The town's Liberal Democrats have also campaigned for the project, while criticising slow progress and “at best unclear” funding.

Lib Dem-controlled Watford Borough Council unanimously voted through plans for the rebuild at multiple stages.

Watford constituency candidates for the general election on July 4, 2024:

  • Arran Bowen-la Grange – Green Party
  • Gary James Ling – Reform UK
  • Khalid Mahmood – Workers Party of Britain
  • Dean Russell – Conservative and Unionist Party
  • Ian Stotesbury – Liberal Democrats
  • Matt Turmaine – Labour Party