Chancellor Rachel Reeves confirmed that several high profile infrastructure projects such as the Stonehenge Tunnel and A27 Arundel bypass, have been scrapped
The £1.7bn A303 Stonehenge Tunnel and the Restoring Our Hospitals schemes have been axed to answer the newly discovered £22bn hole in public finances left by the previous Government, chancellor Rachel Reeves confirmed yesterday.
As promised in the Labour manifesto, the £320m A27 Arundel bypass was also scrapped.
The plans comprise what the chancellor called “difficult decisions”- outlining cuts that would make an estimated £5.5bn savings this year and targeting over £8bn next year.
Speaking yesterday, the chancellor said:
“We have seen from the National Audit Office the chaos that the previous government presided over. Projects over budget and delayed again and again. The spending audit has revealed nearly £800m of unfunded transport projects that have been committed next year.
“So my right honourable friend the transport secretary will undertake a thorough review of all these commitments. As part of that work, she has agreed not to move forwards with projects that the previous government refused to publicly cancel, despite knowing full well they were unaffordable. That includes proposed work on the A303 and the A27.”
Transport secretary Louise Haigh will now systematically review £1bn of unfunded transport projects.
Railway and hospital restoration works have also been axed
Cutting the Restoring our Railways scheme, which has already brought the Dartmoor and Northumberland lines back into operation, will save £85m.
The pledge to build 40 new hospitals by 2030, a policy which initially dates back to Boris Johnson’s government, will be reviewed. But the prognosis was poor, with Reeves observing that:
“Only one hospital has opened and six started construction.
“There is nowhere close to the funding needed so we will carry-out a complete review of new hospital programme with a fully costed and realistic timetable for delivery.
“If we cannot afford it we cannot do it.”
HS2’s finances seem to support the accusations
The Labour chancellor was scathing in her assessment of the previous Government’s attitude to public finances, accusing them of promising “roads that would never be built, public transport that would never arrive, hospitals that would never treat a single patient”.
HS2 Ltd’s annual report, released earlier this week, echoed this sentiment in reporting a £2.2bn loss. Nearly half of this (£1bn) was attributed to former prime minister Rishi Sunak’s cancellation of the Manchester leg of the project.
The deferral and later cancellation of the West Midlands to Crewe connection represented £713m in lost economic benefits.
