Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has made an estimate of the potential economic costs of the decision not to proceed with Phase 2B of HS2.

The Department is working with HS2 Ltd and its supply chain to establish the cost implications of the decision not to build Phase 2.

The economic benefit cost ratio (BCR) of the decision to proceed with building just Phase One (London-Birmingham) of HS2 was set out in the Accounting Officer Assessment published in October 2023.

Every penny of the £36bn that would have been spent extending HS2 will be reinvested into local infrastructure and transport schemes across the country, including £19.8bn on projects across the North. This investment will support thousands of new jobs on top of the thousands already supported by the construction of HS2 from London to Birmingham.