Yesterday, the Government said that it had seen “no evidence of corruption, wrongdoing or illegality” in the work on Teesside despite claims that millions of taxpayers money could be at risk.

It comes as Lord Scriven, a member of the House of Lords and former leader of Sheffield City Council, told Peers that the Government has the power to act and trigger a full audit by the National Audit Office (NAO).

He said that it was vital to investigate that “the taxpayers are not being short-changed by excessive profits going to one private company” through the Government implementing “section 63d of the National Audit Act”.

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It comes after Ben Houchen, the Tees Valley Mayor who has spearheaded the redevelopment, welcomed a potential review in order to “put this nonsense to bed once and for all”.

Dehenna Davidson, the levelling up minister, yesterday confirmed that the Government will “shortly” decide whether to press ahead with a review in response to the letter from Mr Houchen.

Repeated concerns have been raised in recent months over hundreds of millions of pounds spent clearing the site, and the involvement of private investors, Chris Musgrave and Martin Corney, who receive profits despite doubts over whether they have invested in the 4,500 acre site.

The publicly-run South Tees Development Corporation owned 50 per cent of the company until December 2021 when share transfer took place and private developers now own a 90 per cent stake.

Mr Musgrace and Mr Corney are listed as directors in Teeswork Limited, the company set up to deliver the ambitious project, alongside Julie Gillespie, the Chief Executive at Tees Valley Combined Authority.

This has led to an investigation launched by Parliament's Business and Trade Committee, in addition to calls for a public inquiry, and full audit by the NAO watchdog.

Yesterday the Government mounted its defence of the project, with Baroness Scott, a levelling up minister in the House of Lords, telling Peers that private sector investment and a joint venture was “always a core part of the business case for this site”.

Simon Clarke, the Middlesbrough MP and former levelling up secretary, yesterday accused Labour of a “shameful attempt to smear the amazing Teeswork project” during Prime Minister’s Questions.

The Deputy Prime Minister, Oliver Dowden, joined Mr Clarke in calling on Labour to “apologise for talking down Teesside”.

He said that he felt all MPs would “see through the inexcusable attempts by the Labour Party to talk down those successes on Teesside where local leaders are working tirelessly to improve that region for the first time in a generation”.

Yesterday the chief executive of Mr Houchen’s mayoral authority said the organisation will “fully cooperate” with any potential investigation to clear its name from accusations.

Speaking to The Yorkshire Post at the UKREiiF real estate investment conference in Leeds today, Julie Gilhespie said she was “concerned” about how much resource investigations would take, but recognised that “questions are being asked and need to be answered.”

She made the comments after giving a presentation about the Tees Valley Investment Zone plans, where she described the Teeswork scheme as “absolutely central to the redevelopment of Teesside.”

Ministers launch defence of Teesworks as Government urged to intervene