Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent discussions his Department has had with the Department for Infrastructure in Northern Ireland on the union connectivity review.

Officials from the Department for Transport regularly engage with their counterparts in Northern Ireland’s Department for Infrastructure on the recommendations made by Lord Peter Hendy’s Union Connectivity Review (UCR). The UK Government’s response to the UCR was published on 7 December 2023 and outlined UK Government funding of £4.8m to support the recommendations made for improved rail connections in Northern Ireland, including £700k for a feasibility study on reopening the Antrim to Lisburn railway line with an additional stop at Belfast International Airport.