THE Health Secretary last night warned that there were “no guarantees” on the North- East’s new super-hospital going ahead if there was a change of government on Thursday.

Andy Burnham was on the campaign trail in the region to support Teesside Labour candidates Vera Baird, for Redcar, and Tom Blenkinsop, for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland.

Mr Burnham gave the go-ahead for the £464m hospital at Wynyard Park, which will replace Hartlepool and North Tees hospitals, in March, ending fears that public spending cuts would mothball the project. Work is due to begin in 2012, with the first patients moving into the building in 2015.

But Mr Burnham said yesterday: “I hope the future of the hospital will not be affected by a change of government – I would be very disappointed.

When I say I hope the hospital won’t be affected, I mean there are no guarantees under a different government.

“When I heard David Cameron speaking to Jeremy Paxman and he mentioned the North-East in terms of public spending cuts it was a chilling reminder of governments past.

“The North-East has had a lot of investment in the last decade and it is our job to remind people about that and gently point to the things that have changed.”

The Conservatives reacted angrily to the suggestion yesterday – but could not 100 per cent guarantee that the hospital would go ahead.

Ian Galletley, Conservative candidate for Stockton North, said: “If I am elected I will be a backbench MP and cannot guarantee something that may not even be proposed.

“Nothing has been said to give me cause for any doubt that the Wynyard hospital will happen. The NHS is our number one national priority.

The NHS will be safer under the Conservatives than in the very unlikely event of another Labour government.”

Mr Burnham walked along Redcar’s esplanade yesterday, sampling a “lemon top” ice cream, which he shared with Ms Baird, before visiting Teesside Athletic Football Club following their match against Scarborough Town.

As he enjoyed a cup of tea in the clubhouse – and refused a sausage roll, feeling the lemon top had provided enough empty calories for a health secretary – Mr Burnham warned there would be difficult times ahead in the North in terms of both public and private sector.

“The question is, who do people think is a government that will do the most to look after the North-East in the most difficult times?” he said.

Date for funeral

THE funeral of John Boakes, the UKIP candidate for the Thirsk and Malton seat, in North Yorkshire, who died last month, is to be held today at 10.45am at Darlington Crematorium, Carmel Road North.