In a statement to the House of Commons today on the state of the UK finances, chancellor of the exchequer Rachel Reeves said that the new government had inherited and undisclosed £22bn hole in public spending.
The chancellor avoided saying that any roadbuilding projects had been cancelled – merely saying that they were either being reviewed or not moving forward. The hospital building programme is also being reviewed.
She said that transport secretary Louise Haigh was conducting a review of transport projects and had agreed “not to move forward with projects that the previous government refused to publicly cancel despite knowing full well they were unaffordable.
“That includes proposed works on the A303 and the A27.”
Neither the Lower Thames Crossing nor the A66 dually were specifically mentioned but by implication are also subject to the review.
The Restoring Your Railway programme is also being scrapped, saving £85m next year, the chancellor said.
“If we cannot afford it, we cannot do it,” she said.
Of the previous government, Reeves said: “They continued to make unfunded commitment after unfunded commitment that they knew we could not afford.”
In much the same vein, health secretary Wes Streeting is reviewing the hospital building programme as there is not the funding in place to deliver the former Conservative government's plans, the chancellor said.
Cancellation of the £350m A27 Arundel bypass was an election manifesto commitment for the Labour Party, so its fate was already set. Bam Nuttall is the contractor losing out there.
The A303 upgrade includes a planned £1.7bn tunnel under the Stonehenge World Heritage Site. The MORE joint venture, comprising FCC Construcción, WeBuild and BeMo Tunnelling, had been in line for that contract, hoping for a go-ahead before the end of the year.
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