The Liberal Democrats have been accused of 'playing politics' in their effort to speed up a programme to build new hospitals, including a new one in the Reading area.
The new hospitals programme was introduced by the previous Conservative government as part of a major investment into the vital healthcare facilities.
The programme was aimed at creating 40 new hospitals by 2030, with a further seven sites added to the programme following the discovery of buildings containing potentially hazardous 'crumbling' concrete.
Although the Royal Berkshire Hospital was identified as one of the hospitals that would be rebuilt, the Labour government has delayed the project until 2037.
A Liberal Democrat motion in Parliament that they claim would have funded the quicker delivery of new hospitals was defeated by Labour MPs on Wednesday, April 23.
The five Labour MPs for Berkshire voted against the motion. No vote was recorded for Jack Rankin, the Conservative MP for Windsor.
Clive Jones, the Liberal Democrat MP for Wokingham, accused Labour of 'failing' to commit the government to fixing the 'crumbling' Royal Berkshire Hospital.
Responding to the allegations, Yuan Yang, the Labour MP for Earley and Woodley said: “I was elected last year on a mandate to fix our broken NHS and this government is getting on with the job.
“We’ve seen waiting lists falling now for six months in a row, with two million additional appointments delivered months ahead of schedule.
“This was made possible by a record £22 billion uplift to the NHS’ capital spending budget which means new scanners and diagnostics equipment, with 1,500 new GPs providing healthcare in their communities.
“The Lib Dems' motion would've made no difference to what I care about most, which is getting people in my 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."
Sites identified for a new Royal Berkshire Hospital include Thames Valley Park in Earley and Thames Valley Science Park in Shinfield, which are both in Ms Yang's constituency.
The Royal Berkshire Hospital will remain at is current site in London Road, Reading for the foreseeable future.
The Lib Dem motion in Parliament was defeated with 77 MPs voting in support and a majority of 309 MPs voting against it.
It was supported by Lee Dillon, the Liberal Democrat MP for Newbury, and Joshua Reynolds, the Liberal Democrat MP for Maidenhead.
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