During an interview with BBC Breakfast on the day after he had announced the General Election on 4 July, Sunak said ‘the hospitals will be built'.

The PM added: ‘The majority have already got planning permission. There are spades in the ground.'

The statement by the PM contradicted an earlier announcement in May 2023, when the Government revealed eight of the 2019 schemes scheduled to be completed by the end of the decade, known as Cohort 4, would be delayed until after the end of the deadline due to the prioritisation of the rebuilding of five additional sites constructed using reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC).

The Government said the new five RAAC sites, along with three mental health hospitals, would mean it would still meet its pledge of delivering 40 new sites by 2030, albeit they were not the same 40 pledged in 2019.

Daisy Cooper, deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats, said the PM had lied by saying the Government would build the 40 hospitals originally pledged in 2019.

Cooper said: ‘It's day one of this campaign and already Rishi Sunak is lying like Boris Johnson.

‘People will see right through this swindle. The Conservatives promised 40 new hospitals five years ago and instead we've seen them left to crumble. It is an insult to voters that some of these supposed new hospitals don't even have planning permission yet, let alone spades in the ground.

‘The Liberal Democrats would stand up for our NHS, including making sure hospitals get the repairs they need.'