Black Country MP John Spellar warned that failure to restart work on Midland Metropolitan Hospital could result in spiralling cost to the taxpayer as well as delaying the completion of a much needed local hospital.

Speaking to the industry journal Construction News, Mr Spellar said:

“My concern is if they leave it too long, the subcontractors and particularly the workforce will start to head off on other jobs, they can’t just wait around week on week.

“This is all going to end up costing a tonne of money, you cannot leave this as a towering monument of failure.”