Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 20 November 2025 to Question 89642 on High Speed 2 Line, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the deferral of works on the Handsacre link on (a) journey times from the North West of England to London and (b) the economy during the four year deferral period.

As set out in my response of 20 November 2025 to question 89642, the deferral of work at Handsacre is not expected to have any impact on journey times for services from the North West of England to London once the delivery of HS2 is complete. The Department and HS2 Ltd are currently undertaking a full reset of the programme. As part of this reset the department will provide an update on the economic impact of the programme in a revised business case.