A DEMOLITION site in Leeds that was earmarked for one of Boris Johnson’s “40 new hospitals by 2030” is likely to stay as it is while Labour decides what to do about the then-prime minister’s “undeliverable and unaffordable” commitment.

Recalling how, in 2019, the New Hospital Programme (NHP) had been unveiled with great fanfare, Keep Our NHS Public (KONP) national chairman Dr John Puntis said: “When in 2019 Boris Johnson announced the building of 40 new hospitals by 2030, Leeds was one of the six so-called pathfinder projects expected to be in the first tranche.

“A site was prepared on the Leeds Infirmary estate, involving the demolition of old buildings.