The claim is: "The speaker and others knew that the promised hospitals were never going to happen." This refers to the Conservative Party's pledge to build 40 new hospitals by 2030, and the assertion that people knew this promise was not going to be fulfilled. **Evidence supporting the claim:** - The National Audit Office (NAO) reported in July 2023 that "by the definition the government used in 2020, it will not now deliver 40 new hospitals by 2030" and noted "inherent uncertainty" from the outset about whether all schemes could be afforded and completed on time. - The Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) rated the New Hospital Programme "red," saying "successful delivery of the project appears to be unachievable." - The Public Accounts Committee stated in November 2023 it had "no confidence" the original target was achievable. - The government's own January 2025 review stated: "Despite the claim, there were not 40 'new' schemes and some were just refurbishments or extensions... there were not 40 of them, they were not all new and many were not even hospitals." - Health Secretary Wes Streeting said the programme was "unfunded and undeliverable," with funding due to run out in March 2025, and called it "built on the shaky foundation of false hope." - By early 2023, only 10 of 40 projects had full planning permission. **Evidence complicating the claim:** - "Never going to happen" is stronger than what the evidence supports. The programme was not cancelled — it was reset. The NAO's 2026 update shows 46 schemes are now in the programme (5 already complete, 41 planned), with construction spread across four waves running through 2039-40, and some hospitals estimated to open as late as 2045-46. So hospitals are being built, just not 40 new ones by 2030. - The claim about what people "knew" is a claim about internal foreknowledge. While there was extensive public evidence that the 2030 target was undeliverable, verifying what specific individuals subjectively "knew" is not possible through public evidence alone. Wes Streeting's own parliamentary statement asserted that "Conservative MPs... stood on a manifesto promise they knew could never be kept," but this too is a political assertion about others' internal knowledge. **Assessment:** The core assertion — that the Conservative promise of 40 new hospitals by 2030 was widely understood to be undeliverable — is strongly supported by official watchdog findings and the government's own subsequent review. However, the phrase "never going to happen" overstates the case: the programme was reset rather than abandoned, and some hospitals are being built on a much longer timeline. The claim also involves an assertion about subjective foreknowledge ("knew") that cannot be definitively confirmed through public evidence, though there was abundant public evidence casting serious doubt on the pledge's deliverability from early on. Sources: National Audit Office, "Progress with the New Hospital Programme" (July 2023), https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/New-hospital-programme-report.pdf; National Audit Office, "Update on the New Hospital Programme" (January 2026), https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/update-on-the-new-hospital-programme-summary.pdf; GOV.UK, "New Hospital Programme: plan for implementation" (January 2025), https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/new-hospital-programme-review-outcome/new-hospital-programme-plan-for-implementation; BBC News, "Government to miss 40 new hospitals target - watchdog" (2023), https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-66217375; The Guardian, "Johnson plan to build 40 new hospitals 'unachievable', Streeting told" (January 2025), https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/jan/20/johnson-plan-to-build-40-new-hospitals-unachievable-streeting-told; Sky News, "Almost half of 40 hospitals promised by Conservatives delayed" (January 2025), https://news.sky.com/story/almost-half-of-40-hospitals-promised-by-conservatives-delayed-says-health-secretary-13293159; TheyWorkForYou, Lords debate on New Hospital Programme Review (28 January 2025), https://www.theyworkforyou.com/lords/?id=2025-01-28c.191.1