THE man who approved the Private Finance Initiative deal to build the new £451m Royal Liverpool Hospital has hit back at accusations that it was a costly political "fix".

Andy Burnham, Labour's Liverpool-born former health Secretary, attacked "conspiracy" theories, highlighted in a recent expose by the respected Panorama TV programme.

The programme claimed the calculations used to justify the use of private finance – rather than a government grant – to replace the ageing hospital were twisted to achieve the desired answer.

And, most worryingly, it claimed the department of health (DoH) had warned the risk of the Royal Liverpool being unable to afford its PFI repayments was "significant... leaving the trust in deficit when the scheme is complete".

But Mr Burnham told the Daily Post: "They are wrong to claim it was a fix. I don't accept that at all. This was not some conspiracy.

"What they are missing is that it was not a case of public money or PFI – it was a case of PFI or no hospital. The question then was 'Is it value for money for the taxpayer?'

"The fact that this government has decided to continue with the scheme shows that the Treasury advice that they have received is the same as ours."

However, Mr Burnham agreed it was a matter of concern if there was any suggestion that the scale of the repayments cast a cloud over the financial future of the Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust.

He said: "People should be worried if that is the advice now, but that advice must have changed – because that's not the advice that was presented to me."