Labour has accused the government of “old-fashioned pork-barrel politics” after it emerged that the overwhelming majority of areas promised help with future hospital rebuilding programmes are in Conservative-held seats or are those targeted by the party.

Under plans announced at the start of the Tory party conference, hospitals in 21 areas of England will receive so-called seed funding to assist with plans for building or rebuilding schemes earmarked for the end of next decade.

Analysis of the list shows that of the 21 areas, some of which include more than one eligible hospital, 15 are entirely or partly represented by Tory MPs. Four will be likely Conservative targets at the next general election. Just two, Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham and North Manchester General, are in safe Labour seats. Almost 40% of the designated sites are in the west or south-west of England, where the Conservatives are facing pressure from the resurgent Liberal Democrats.

During a fringe event on Monday evening at the party conference, Boris Johnson appeared to add another hospital to the list, saying Canterbury would get one of the “new hospitals we are building”.

The Canterbury parliamentary seat is ultra-marginal, having been won by Labour in the 2017 election by just 187 votes, the first time it was not held by the Conservatives.

The initial government announcement promised 40 new hospitals. It soon emerged that the plan was for new or renovated buildings at just six sites, with the promise of future funding in 21 other areas.

Asked at a Tory conference fringe event whether there had been a political dimension to the choice of hospitals the health secretary, Matt Hancock, rejected this, saying one of the six initial projects was based in the Leicester constituency of Labour’s Jonathan Ashworth.

But Labour said the first projects were already largely decided, whereas there was considerably more scope for choice over which areas received help with longer-term plans. The party has also expressed scepticism over whether the funding would actually materialise.

Ashworth told the Guardian: “This isn’t a strategic hospital plan, it’s a blatant attempt at old-fashioned pork-barrel politics. Indeed, Boris Johnson has just out of the blue added another hospital to the list in a Labour marginal constituency.



“The reality is Tory MPs and candidates are misleading voters in marginal seats because not a single penny piece of new money has been set aside to rebuild any of these hospitals. As always with Boris Johnson and Matt Hancock, they over-spin and under-deliver.”

The announcement has been used by Conservative MPs in many of the relevant areas to tout for votes, with at least nine sending tweets in recent days to hail the promised extra funding.

Johnny Mercer, the defence minister whose Plymouth Moor seat is targeted by Labour, tweeted a video saying the city would get a new £600m hospital, calling opposition scepticism about it “Labour lies”.

Sarah Newton, the Tory MP for Truro and Falmouth, tweeted that Truro would get a new hospital costing £450m, calling it “a gamechanger for healthcare in Cornwall”. Newton has a majority of less than 4,000.

Hancock’s office was contacted for comment.