The Government said the new plan, which will see 18 schemes begin construction between 2032 and 2039, was ‘affordable and honest' and will be backed with £15bn of new investment over consecutive five-year waves, averaging £3bn a year.

Wes Streeting, health and social care secretary, said: ‘The New Hospital Programme we inherited was unfunded and undeliverable. Not a single new hospital was built in the past five years, and there was no credible funding plan to build forty in the next five years.

‘When I walked into the Department of Health and Social Care, I was told that the funding for the New Hospitals Programme runs out in March. We were determined to put the programme on a firm footing, so we can build the new hospitals our NHS needs.

‘Today we are setting out an honest, funded, and deliverable programme to rebuild our NHS.'

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Interim chief executive of NHS Providers, Saffron Cordery said the news was a ‘bitter pill to swallow', adding: ‘Trusts who are part of the New Hospital Programme account for more than 40% (£5.7bn) of the total bill for backlog repairs and maintenance. Today's announcement will make a difficult situation even more challenging.'

Siva Anandaciva, director of policy, partnerships and events at The King's Fund, warned: ‘Pausing or delaying plans to rebuild hospitals is … very likely to be a false economy – many hospitals are already spending significant amounts of taxpayers funding trying to maintain sub-standard buildings – and they will have to keep doing so in the years to come.'

Matthew Taylor chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said it was ‘very disappointing' and urged the Government to consider the ‘bigger picture on capital' ahead of the Spending Review this spring, ‘particularly how changes to the way capital funding is allocated could ensure more efficient and effective spending to support its three shifts for the NHS'.

The Liberal Democrats accused the Government of ‘a shoddy attempt to bury bad news' on the day of the Trump inauguration.