Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the potential financial effect of the withdrawal of Eurostar services from (a) Ebbsfleet International and (b) Ashford International on the economy of Kent until 2022.

Eurostar has announced that it will no longer be stopping at Ashford and Ebbsfleet International stations until 2022, due to the unprecedented impact of Covid-19. This was a commercial decision taken by Eurostar in response to the severe decline in passenger numbers.

As this is a commercial decision taken by Eurostar very recently, the Government has not undertaken an economic analysis of the impacts of these changes. Nevertheless, the Government is keen to see the reinstatement of services once international travel recovers and it is commercially viable to do so.